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TEACHING AND 
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SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING 
AND MANAGEMENT 



A FIRST STANDARD TRAINING COURSE 

FOR 

Sunday-School Workers and Older Pupils 
Especially in Smaller Schools 

BY 

JAMES McCONAUGHY, M.A. 

Editor American Sunday-School Union 
WITH THE CO-OPERATION OF 

JAMES L; McCONAUGHY, Ph.D. 

Professor of Education in Dartmouth College 
AND 

HARRY EDWARDS BARTOW 

Sunday-School Superintendent, Darby, Pa. 



PHILADELPHIA 
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION 

1816 CHESTNUT STREET 



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Copyright, 1916, American Sunday-School Union 



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PUBLISHER'S NOTE 

- 

There are many courses of study in use for training Sunday- 
school teachers, but they fail to supply the needs of the smaller 
schools. As a rule they are written from the point of view of 
the larger town and city schools. This course has been 
prepared with the needs of the smaller schools, especially of 
those in rural communities, kept steadily in view. 

While emphasizing teaching, it deals with the duties and 
problems of Sunday-school workers in general. It treats in 
simple language such activities and methods as should have 
a place in any school, however small. Without using peda- 
gogical terms, it bases its conclusions on modern educational 
principles. Moreover, it constantly lays stress upon definite 
spiritual results in conversion and character-building. 

This first course of study on li Sunday-School Teaching and 
Management," will be followed by others on " Getting Ac- 
quainted with the Bible" and on "Winning Lives for 
Christ." 

The authors have had exceptional equipment for their 
work. Mr. McConaughy, in addition to his editorial experi- 
ence, has helped to train large numbers of young people for 
Christian usefulness at the Northfield schools and in summer 
conferences. His son is one of the younger leaders in the 
educational movement of today and has successfully taught 
large classes of Sunday-school workers. Special studies taken 
by the latter under Prof. George A. Coe, of Union Theo- 
logical Seminary, have given form to many of the ideas 
expressed in Parts I and II. Mr. Bartow is a practical 
Sunday-school superintendent, thoroughly familiar with the 
problems and possibilities of smaller Sunday-schools. 

These lessons have been tested, before publication, in 
various training conferences of missionaries of the American 
Sunday-School Union in different parts of the country, as 
well as in several large classes of Sunday-school teachers. 



4 PUBLISHER'S NOTE 

Acknowledgment is made of valuable suggestions received 
thereby, as well as from leading Sundaj'-school workers who 
have kindly read the lessons in manuscript. 

The John C. Green Income Fund, a fund founded in 1877 
"for the purpose of aiding ... in securing a Sunday-school 
literature of the highest order of merit/' by providing for the 
expense of authorship and copyright, enables the Society 
to make the price of this book within the reach of all who 
desire to use it. 



CONTENTS 

I. EFFECTIVE TEACHING page 

How to Use This Course 11 

I. Planning to Teach the Lesson 17 

1. Why a Plan Is Needed 

2. Aim in Making Your Plan 

3. Preparation 

4. Presentation 

5. Application. 

II. Keeping the Class Interested 24 

1. The Problem 

2. The Point of Contact 

3. Using Experience 

4. Abstract or Concrete? 

5. Distractions 

6. Pointers 

III. Training the Pupils in Good Habits .30 

1. Teaching Tested by Conduct 

2. Guiding Instincts 

3. Strengthening Habits 

4. Using the Memory 

5. Reciting Memorized Passages 

IV. Asking Questions 37 

1. Why Important 

2. Bad Questions 

3. Good Questions 

V. Making the Lesson Vivid 42 

1. The Problem 

2. Stories 

3. Objects 

4. Pictures 

5. Handwork for Pupils 



6 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

VI. Influencing the Pupils 49 

1. Training Plus Consecration 

2. Unconscious Influence 

3. Your Ideal 

4. Believe in Your Task and Yourself 

5. Personal Characteristics 

6. Attitude 

7. Character Counts 

VII. Jesus the Best of All Teachers 54 

1. He Constantly Taught 

2. He Adapted the Truth to All 

3. He Taught Great Truths Simply 

4. He Found the Point of Contact 

5. He Built the Unknown on the Known 

6. He Taught by Question and Answer 

7. He Applied His Teaching to Life 

8. He Expected Decision and Action 

Review Questions on Part I 59 

II. ADAPTING TEE WORK TO THE PUPILS 

I. What a Teacher Needs to Know about His Pupils . 63 

1. Why Is Such Knowledge Necessary? 

2. The School Is for the Pupils 

3. Need of Grading 

4. General Characteristics 

5. Special Traits 

6. Outside Interests 

II. How to Teach Primary Pupils 69 

1. Bodily Growth 

2. Mental Growth - 

3. Spiritual Growth 

4. Sunday-School Interests 

III. How to Teach Juniors 75 

1. Love of Reading 

2. The "Gang" and Clubs 

3. Hero- Worship 

4. Sexes Apart 

5. Moral Awakening 

6. In the Sunday-School 



CONTENTS 7 

PAGE 

IV. How to Teach Intermediate Pupils 80 

1. Adolescence 

2. The Sex Instinct 

3. Control 

4. Mental Development 

5. Sunday-School Activities 

6. Suggestions 



V. How to Teach Seniors 86 

1. Contact with Reality 

2. Broader Outlook 

3. Individuality 

4. Religious Needs 

5. In the Sunday-School 

VI. The Organized Class . . 91 

1. Adults 

2. Boys and Girls 

VII. Standards and Progress 101 

1. A Standard for Small Schools — How to Reach It 

2. Grading the School 

3. Spreading the Teacher-Training Idea 

4. Realizing the Supreme Aim 

5. Encouragement from Our Great Leader 

Review Questions on Part II 109 

III. A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 

I. A Clear Aim 113 

1 A School 

2 A Bible School 

3 For All Ages, but Especially the Young 

4 To Enlist and Train Followers of the Great 

Teacher 

5. Following the Bible Pattern 

6. Learning from Sunday-School History 

IT. A Good Leader 122 

1. The Superintendent and His Work 

2. Conducting the School 

3. Securing and Training Teachers 

4. Planning Special Days 



8 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

III. Other Officers 130 

1. The Assistant Superintendent and Department 

Superintendents 

2. The Secretary and Treasurer 

3. The Librarian 

IV. Other Officers (continued) 136 

1. The Leader of Music 

2. The Home Department Superintendent 

3. The Cradle Roll Superintendent 

V. Equipment 143 

1. The Place of Meeting 

2. Suitable Seats, Especially for Primaries 

3. Attractive Walls — Pictures, Charts 

4. Light, Air, Cleanliness 

5. Flags and Class Banners 

6. Stereopticon, with Bible and Missionary Slides 

VI. Inspiration 151 

1. From Current Sunday-School Literature 

2. From Visits of Sunday-School Workers 

3. From Attendance at Sunday-School Conven- 

tions, Institutes, and Summer Schools 

VII. Co-operation 157 

1. Increasing the Attendance 

2. Workers' Conference 

3. Prayer Service for All at Close of School 

Review Questions on Part III 163 



IV. USING THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 

I. The School a Center for the Community Life 167 

1. Directing Social Affairs 

2. Promoting Clean Athletics 

3. Other Outdoor Activities 

II. The School Promoting Temperance, Purity, and Patriotism 174 

1. Improving Temperance Conditions 

2. Promoting Purity of Thought, Speech, and 

Conduct 

3. Inculcating Christian Patriotism and Citizenship 



CONTENTS 9 

PAGE 

III. The School a Fruitful Part of the Church . . . . 181 

1. Promoting Church Attendance 

2. Establishing a Church Where None Now Exists 

3. Buildinglup Church Membership from the School 

— Decision Day 

IV. The School at Work for the Whole Kingdom of God . 189 

1. Outside Relationships 

2. Teaching Missions 

3. Missionary Giving 

Review Questions on Part IV 196 

Books for Use with This Course of Study 197 



HOW TO USE THIS COURSE 

This course of study is intended for use: 

1. By Senior or Adult classes during the Sunday-school 
session, in place of the regular lesson. 

2. By groups of present teachers and officers, or of older 
pupils, or of both. Such groups may meet after the 
Sunday-school session, or at another hour on Sunday or on 
a week-day evening, in some home or other convenient 
meeting-place. 

3. By individuals studying alone but reporting the results 
of their work. 

i. The Teacher: 

To teach such a course as this should be regarded as a 
high privilege, and the opportunity when presented should 
not be declined because one does not feel fully qualified. 
While acquaintance with the Bible, knowledge of child char- 
acter and gifts of leadership may be made very useful in 
directing such a course, one who has not all these advan- 
tages but has a real love for Christ and a sincere desire to 
see Bible truth better taught to young and old need not 
hesitate to undertake the service. In some communities a 
public-school teacher may be the natural one to lead; in 
others the Sunday-school superintendent or one of the 
present teachers; in still others the pastor. 

2. The Group Leader: 

Where, after diligent effort, no one has been found who 
will undertake to teach the course, a group should be formed, 
composed of those who feel the need of training and are 
ready to seek it. One member of such a group should be 
chosen as the leader, to see that its meetings begin at the 
appointed time and to represent it in correspondence with 
those to whom it will naturally report. 



12 HOW TO USE THIS COURSE 

3. The Class Session: 

Various methods may be followed in conducting the class 
session, according to the size of the class and the experience 
of its members. Whenever it meets apart from the regular 
Sunday-school session, there should be prayer, either at the 
beginning or at the close, or both. Each separate topic of 
the lesson may be assigned in advance to one member, to 
study the section relating to it, to find anything further, if 
possible, bearing upon it, and then be prepared to state it, 
when called upon, in his or her own words. Every other 
member should be encouraged to add anything or to raise 
any question bearing upon that point. Never merely read 
from the book itself in class. Let such reading always be a 
part of the advance preparation. 

4. Additional Reading: 

Since this is only an elementary course, treating con- 
cisely the most essential points of each topic discussed, the 
student will find it greatly to his advantage to supplement 
his study by additional reading while taking the course, 
and to follow it by further reading on the topics in which 
he is most interested. This will not make the course more 
difficult. On the contrary, if even a little outside reading 
is done on each lesson, the class discussions will become 
more interesting, and the impressions will be more lasting. 

A carefully selected list of books will be found on page 
197. Two special offers are there made, by which small sets 
of books can be secured at reduced rates. Each training 
class, if not each member thereof, should take advantage 
of one or other of these two offers. Such a set of books 
may well be made the nucleus of a small library belonging 
to the school and used especially for the training of its 
workers. 

5. Written Answers: 

It is specially recommended that written answers be 
regularly prepared to the questions attached to each lesson. 
These have been framed with the view not merely of fixing 
in mind the principal points of the lesson, but of applying 
these to the school with which the training-class student is 



HOW TO USE THIS COURSE 13 

connected. It is not merely new knowledge that is aimed at, 
but its application in promoting better Sunday-school work. 

Either of two methods may be followed in regard to these 
written answers to the questions. They may be prepared 
by each member at the same time that the lesson to which 
they belong is studied. In that case they should be brought to 
the class and, as each question is taken up in succession at the 
close of the class hour, the answers should be read by one 
and another as called for. Or the questions may be treated 
more as a review of the previous week's lesson. In the latter 
case the answers are to be written during the week following 
the study of the lesson in class, and taken up as above indi- 
cated at the beginning of the next class hour. 

Where the questions call for observation and report on 
present conditions in the school, the leader should take pains 
to see that the answers are prepared in a constructive and 
helpful manner, and never in a fault-finding spirit. The 
written answers may either be handed in to the teacher or 
retained by the writers, as agreed upon. The weekly writing 
of these answers will prepare for the writing of the review 
tests given at the end of each part. These review papers 
may be submitted, when so arranged, to the Sunday-school 
missionary of the district, when the school is a Union one, 
or to the proper state or district officer when it is denomina- 
tional; or they will receive careful examination and acknowl- 
edgment if sent direct to the author of this course, in care 
of the publishers. 

6. The Examination: 

The writing of the answers, lesson by lesson, as well as of 
the reviews at the close of each part, should make an exam- 
ination at the close of the course a natural step for which 
all are prepared. All who pass such an examination will be 
entitled to a diploma from the American Sunday-School 
Union, or they may also receive the same from their own 
state or denominational teacher-training department. 

Decide from the start that you will do your best to complete 
the course and take the examination upon it. Allow all the 
time necessary to do the work thoroughly. Your school 
may take a just pride in the number of its members who 



14 HOW TO USE THIS COURSE 

hold teacher-training diplomas. When any class or group 
completes the course, arrange for graduation exercises. Such 
exercises may also well be made a feature in group gatherings 
of neighboring schools or in conventions covering larger 
districts. 

7. Later Courses: 

In arranging the order of this course, it has been thought 
advisable to begin at once with the subject of teaching, since 
that is the most vital problem in every school. For the same 
reason the courses relating to the material for teaching — the 
Bible — and to its use in personal work are planned to follow 
this opening section on the school in operation. 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 



LESSON I 

Planning to Teach the Lesson 

1. WHY A PLAN Teaching includes three parts: the 
IS NEEDED material to be taught, a pupil to 

learn, and a teacher who can plant 
the new ideas in the learner's mind. Have you thought 
good Sunday-school teaching consisted only in mastering 
the material, looking up the Bible references, and knowing 
the lesson facts? Or did you think you could teach when 
you knew your subject and understood your pupil? A 
third part is necessary — the ability to teach the lesson so 
interestingly that it will impress your pupil and affect 
his conduct. All three sides of the triangle are needed. 

To teach a lesson successfully 
you must first make a teaching 
plan. Did you do this last Sun- 
day? Did you ever bake bread, 
or help build a barn, or even 
a chicken house, without think- 
ing out beforehand the kind you 
were going to make, deciding 
what materials you would use, to the pupil 
and planning things out, at least 

in a general way? If even bread cannot be well made 
without a rule or plan, how can any Bible lesson be 
well taught without some previous plan to guide the 
teacher? No good teacher in public school or Sunday- 
school ever teaches a lesson well unless, consciously or 
unconsciously, some outline of the teaching has been 
made. Your Sunday-school class will be twice as in- 
teresting and effective, if you will — beside studying 




18 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

the lesson material and studying the pupil's likes and 
dislikes, needs, and interests — think out the best way of 
teaching him the new idea that you wish to impart. You 
are the bridge between the lesson and the pupil; be as 
straight and strong a bridge as you can. 

2. AIM IN MAKING When anyone tries to put a new 
YOUR PLAN idea into another person's mind, 

he should go through three differ- 
ent steps: preparation of the pupil's mind to receive the 
material; presentation of this material in the most effec- 
tive way; and application of the truth to the pupil's life. 
Sometimes one step is almost omitted and the others 
emphasized — that depends on your aim. What are you 
trying to teach today? If it is history — the way God 
developed the Hebrew nation in the Old Testament, or 
the Christian Church in the New — you will not so greatly 
emphasize the personal application of the passage as the 
relation of its facts to the whole movement. If you are 
teaching little children that God loves us all, the applica- 
tion (that God loves them) is all important. So when you 
have mastered the three steps necessary in a well-planned 
lesson, and have applied them to next Sunday's lesson, 
keeping in mind what the aim of that lesson is, you will 
see which steps need more attention and which require 
relatively less. You always plan for cake baking in much 
the same way, but it makes a great deal of difference 
in your plans, methods, and actions whether your aim is 
to make sponge cake or chocolate cake. Only the very 
skilled housewife tries to make both at once; but if you 
and I often have half a dozen aims for a thirty-minute 
Sunday-school lesson, no wonder our pupils are unin- 
terested and unimpressed. Have one aim for each lesson; 
make this aim so clear that, at the end, each pupil can 
tell from your teaching what aim you have had in mind. 
Example: Joseph in Prison: show that courage and 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 19 

trust in God win out. The aim of the lesson, therefore, 
determines your use of the following steps for planning 
an effective Sunday-school lesson. 

First, get the soil ready. Crops do not 
3. PREPARATION grow when planted on a frozen surface; 

no more do ideas grow when you try to 
plant them in minds unprepared for them. You can tell a 
good teacher by watching her for the first three minutes of 
the lesson — that is long enough to arouse a class or put it 
to sleep. If you once lose the attention of your class it is 
hard to get it again. Prepare the pupil for the lesson by 
finding a "point of contact" — something he already knows 
to which can be linked the new idea in this lesson. Elec- 
tricity never lights a lamp if there is no point of contact 
between lamp and power: our minds work in the same 
way. You must find something in these minds before you 
in your class with which you can connect your new thought. 
To do this: 

1. Begin with your pupils' ideas. They are the soil, 
not you. If their interests are in baseball, skating, and 
dogs, or in dresses, parties, and hair ribbons, start by re- 
ferring to one of these things. (Never spend the entire 
lesson time, though, in this way; Sunday-schools are not 
intended for discussion of athletics or the fashions. Make 
sure, therefore, that you can promptly connect what they 
are thinking about with what you want them to think 
about.) Adapt the lesson-point to something that concerns 
their daily life. "Do you need grit to play baseball? 
This lesson tells about ten men whose lack of grit cost a 
people a fine country." (The Spies.) 

2. Link the new idea with something that has gone 
before. A keenly interested class can be prepared by a 
few words of review. "What do you suppose happened to 
Israel when Joshua died?" Sometimes current events in 
town or country help. "Did you boys read about the 



20 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

newsboy near Chicago who died because he gave so much 
of his skin to save a young lady whom he never saw? 
What did Paul say about what he was willing to do for 
others? How did he prove it?" 

3. Try to arouse the pupils' interest at the very start. 
Make them immediately anxious to hear about the 
lesson. Begin it in a striking way. Which is the better 
introduction : " This lesson is about loving one's neighbor," 
or " Yesterday, in front of the corner store, I saw Henry 
Jones helping old blind Sally across the street"? Look 
out for appropriate incidents. Frame pointed questions. 

4. Never arouse interest except as it helps to develop 
the lesson thought. Mere interest, on a topic which you 
cannot relate to the lesson, hurts because it detracts at- 
tention from the lesson instead of fixing attention upon it. 

You will seldom prepare by telling 
4. PRESENTATION the lesson facts, or drawing them 

out by questions; that is the second 
step. It is usually the longest part in the teaching and 
frequently the most important. Here again the aim you 
have chosen for the lesson will determine on which events 
or points in the lesson material you will lay most stress. 
There are many ways of presenting the material: 

1. By questions. If the class has done homework this 
is usually a good method. Be careful not to tell too much 
yourself. A fact which a pupil has gained for himself 
sticks far longer than one which you give him. 

2. By use of the Bible itself. Don't overwork the 
Quarterly; it is only a help to the understanding of the 
Bible. Encourage your pupils to bring their Bibles. 
Recite the most important verse together. Know the 
lesson so well that you can call for the specific verses which 
tell the steps in the story. However, don't devote all 
the time to verse examination: no class can be kept 
interested by merely using the Bible as a sort of die- 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 21 

tionary in which to look up answers to the teacher's 
questions. 

3. Encourage the pupils to tell the story in their own 
words. Never mind an occasional slang word — that comes 
from the boy or girl nature, which we are trying to help. 
Pupils may give the lesson material by each taking one 
of the characters and thus dramatizing the incident. 
Anything that makes the printed page vivid and impres- 
sive is helpful. 

4. Be sure of the essential facts. Don't swamp your 
pupils with details. Make, with their help, the big things 
stand out, then fill in the details. " First things first, and 
important things made important " is a great rule in 
Sunday-school teaching. Think of the boys and girls 
who know almost nothing about Washington except the 
cherry-tree story of his boyhood days; they have not 
been well taught. 

5. With younger children the story method is the most 
effective way of presenting the lesson. With children 
under eight years the lesson story should be read to or 
studied by the child after it has been told by the teacher. 

"What does this mean to me today!" 
5. APPLICATION — this is the question every pupil 

should ask after a well-presented 
lesson. Life is too busy to study, especially in Sunday- 
school, truths or events that have no present meaning for 
us. The points of today's lesson must be summed up, 
compared with the core of similar Bible incidents, and 
then the fundamental truth, presented in the lesson aim, 
seen and applied. Thus your final step will be both a 
review and an application. 

1. Show the bearing of today's lesson upon other 
lessons previously studied or yet to come. "Does God 
always treat cheaters so?" "Is this incident like any we 
have studied before?" "How do you think Christ would 



22 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

have acted in such conditions?" "What would you 
have done?" Be careful to avoid the piecemeal method 
of Sunday-school teaching. Many pupils have no idea 
that the king David of whom you are talking today is the 
same as the boy you told about some weeks ago. Use 
charts and blackboard outlines to show the relationship 
between the lessons, and to point out the general truths 
that underlie all of them. 

2. Use the Golden Text. Be sure the class sees its 
bearing on the central thought of the lesson. Have them 
show how the lesson topic is found in the lesson facts or 
statements. 

3. Have the class work out their own title for the 
lesson, preferably with a verb in it (to indicate action). 
"Saul treats David meanly." "Jesus loves those whom 
others avoid." Their own title, thus fixed, will mean 
more to them than the one given in the Quarterly. 

4. Express the lesson application sometimes in a Bible 
verse, a verse of a hymn, a single sentence, or a short 
prayer. Give this, written on a card, to pupils to be 
placed in the mirror frame or wherever it will be often 
seen. 

5. Lead the pupils also to make their own application. 
Avoid moralizing. Sometimes no application should even 
be suggested; leave it to their own thoughts. Sometimes 
let your part be only questions. "How ought Saul to have 
treated David?" " How do we treat those who help us?" 
"What do girls in this town do to help the poor and the 
sick?" "What would you have done if you had been in 
Joseph's place in prison?" "What would Jesus do if he lived 
here?" If your lesson has been well taught, the aim you 
had in view will appear in the conclusions your pupils reach. 

Preparation, presentation, application — these are the 
steps we all take if we are trying to influence anyone in 
thought or act. The drummer, selling goods, jokes and 
passes the time of day with the storekeeper, then opens 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 23 

his cases, shows his goods, and concludes by trying to 
get an order. A good preacher introduces his theme by 
striking statement, by pointed illustration, or by vivid 
picture, then expands his topic, and in conclusion urges 
definite action as a result. The aim in every case is to 
make the mind receptive, then to present the new idea 
vividly, and finally to have the pupil admit the point 
and act accordingly. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How have you heretofore gone to work in preparing 
your Sunday-school lesson? 

2. What are the three steps in teaching every lesson, as 
emphasized in this chapter? 

3. Apply these suggestions in preparing (and if possible 
teaching) one lesson and report how they worked. 

4. What was the central thought of last Sunday's lesson? 
How did you bring it out in teaching? (Or, if you were 
taught, how did your teacher bring it out?) 

5. In what definite way do you hope your pupils (or 
classmates) will be different because of w T hat they learned 
last Sunday? 

G. What aim do you think the writer had in view in 
preparing this lesson on " Planning to Teach the Lesson"? 



LESSON II 
Keeping the Class Interested 

1. THE Minds are always working; if you are 
PROBLEM tired out with the day's work, your mind 

is interested in getting to bed; if the 
sermon fails to hold your attention, your mind is still at 
work thinking about the Sunday dinner, or the hens in 
your henyard, or the new suit Mrs. Jones is wearing. 
The minds of your pupils are just as active; they are little 
machines, busy every minute. If the Sunday-school 
lesson does not hold their attention, their minds are 
buzzing over thoughts of toys, or hair ribbons, or why 
snow melts, or a hundred other subjects irrelevant to the 
lesson. You do not have to make interest; you have to 
direct and use it. If you do not catch John's interest and 
center it on the lesson, in a second it will be off after 
some other idea. The problem is one of direction, not 
of development. 

2. THE POINT Get the "point of contact" (p. 19). 
OF CONTACT What do you mean by saying the min- 
ister " talked over the heads of his con- 
gregation"? Simply that he did not get any point of con- 
tact, did not use any present interest. He would have 
been a better preacher if he had better know r n and consid- 
ered what his congregation needed — what their interests, 
problems, joys, and sorrows were. Did you ever see a 
Sunday-school teacher who was like such a preacher? 
What do yon know of the every-day interests and thoughts 
of your pupils? How definitely do you know their religious 
ideas, their problems, joys, and sorrows? No idea ever 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 25 

comes into a mind, no ideal is ever used to mold a char- 
acter, unless the idea or the ideal has something to stick 
to, unless it finds some point of contact. The air is full of 
electricity but we have to get a definite point of contact 
on a live wire before we can get power or light. In teach- 
ing, get in touch with your pupils' live wires. Link up 
the pupils' present interests with the main point of the 
lesson you are teaching. 

There are different ways of making the " point of 
contact." For example: 

1 . By direct approach to the lesson material in a sentence 
which arouses interest: " There was once a boy who didn't 
love his father. I know he didn't because of the way he 
acted." (Absalom.) 

2. By a story from child-life: " It was queer. Henry 
was strong enough to lift a hod of coal or carry a heavy 
box. But he wasn't strong after all; he got mad so easily 
that the fellows liked to tease him to see what he would 
do." ("Greater is he that ruleth his spirit.") 

3. By free conversation: "How many of you children 
have ears? What are they for? Can you have ears and 
not hear? What was the matter with Ted's ears when 
he didn't hear father ask him to go on an errand? Jesus 
talked about people who ' having ears, hear not.' " 

4. By a picture. For example, one of mother and child. 
Ask questions to draw out thought of mother love and 
care for child, leading to a Bible story of the Heavenly 
Father's love and care for us all the time. 

3. USING State the new ideas in terms of 

EXPERIENCE old ideas that your pupils understand. 
A brand new unrelated idea means 
nothing. If a child does not know the meaning of the 
word "intemperance" you are wasting time in trying to 
teach him to avoid it. Children on the edge of the Sahara 
Desert would hardly understand you if you told them 



26 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

the beautiful white snow proves God's love for us. The 
child who, some years ago, had never seen any river but 
the Chicago River, then an open sewer, might rightly 
say she " hated rivers"; her conception of rivers would be 
based on the only one she knew. The baby who called 
a trolley car a "choo-choo" was simply using his present 
understanding to explain a new object. 

All this means, to the teacher, to " proceed from the 
known to the unknown," because the only key a child 
has to new ideas is found in his present ideas. Therefore 
we must understand these fully, and often "we can relate 
Sunday-school ideas to public-school ideas; more often 
we can relate them to daily experiences. John says he 
does not believe the story of God's speaking to little Samuel 
in the dark; God never spoke to him. How would you 
answer his objection? Simply by his own experiences — a 
telephone with a message he could not see, or a letter from 
his mother at home, or the voice of conscience which he 
has heard. Jennie cannot understand what God is. How 
explain it if not in terms of her experience with an earthly 
father whom she loves and who loves her? 

Accordingly, all new ideas must be given (a) by finding 
the present idea of the pupil which is most like the new 
one; (b) by linking the new idea to this related old one, 
and (c) by having the pupil formulate the new idea for 
himself. 

4. ABSTRACT OR Always remember that children are 
CONCRETE? interested in the concrete rather 

than the abstract. This applies to 
most " grown-ups" as well. A newspaper, especially in a 
town, devotes much of its space to " Personals." Personal 
testimonials quoted in advertisements sell thousands of 
things that otherwise would lie covered with dust on the 
shelves. You and I may go to church, or to this or that 
meeting, largely because Mrs. Jones or Mr. Smith or John 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 27 

Clark is going. You and I are apt to be more interested in 
where the President goes to church or plays golf, and in 
what his daughters wear and do, than we are in an im- 
portant debate in the Senate. Why not apply this every- 
day principle — of interest in the concrete — to our Sunday 
teaching? Most of the Bible is framed on this principle — 
it is largely a history of individuals. 

Why, then, teach about neighborliness in the abstract 
instead of using Christ's method — telling the story of the 
kind-hearted man who helped the poor fellow who had 
been robbed on the Jericho road? Is the lesson about 
sacrifice? There is the story of Jonathan, the man who 
risked his life to save his friend. Is it about temperance? 
What better concrete illustration than Daniel, the man 
who always kept " in training" ? Illustrations of every-day 
boys and girls, stories of Bible characters which never 
grow tiresome, of great men who have done noble and 
inspiring deeds — all these may be used to connect a great 
truth w r ith actual lives that lived it out. But be sure the 
underlying abstract truth is retained by the pupil as well 
as the concrete example; his application will consist in 
using the abstract truth in new situations. 

Many teachers have to work 
5. DISTRACTIONS against distractions which undoubt- 
edly hurt the effectiveness of their 
teaching; some of these can be avoided. First, the ideal 
condition is for each class to have its own room; this is 
usually impossible. Many Sunday-schools, however, 
have, at slight expense, arranged curtains hung on piping, 
by which one big room can be made into many compart- 
ments. This aids each class by lessening distraction from 
the noise, or the mere presence, of the classes near by. 

Second, make the physical conditions as helpful as 
possible. Chairs are better than pews. Always arrange 
your class so that all will be in front of you. Sometimes 



28 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

it is wise to assign a regular seat to each pupil. Do not 
make your pupils face a strong light; it may hurt their 
eyes and distract their attention. Be careful of the 
temperature; no one can do good thinking or be really 
interested in a close, stuffy room; if the room has been 
used for an earlier service, be sure it is properly aired 
before Sunday-school begins. If you are a teacher of 
very young pupils, provide physical relaxation for their 
restless little bodies by marching, motion songs, and 
similar activities. Try to have your school meet at the 
best possible hour; it is very difficult to direct the interest 
of pupils who are hungry or, on the other hand, are 
sleepy after a big Sunday dinner. 

Third, be careful of your own attention and interest. 
If you show interest in the hands of the clock, or in any- 
thing else outside of your class, or if you divert your 
pupils' attention to some action on some pupil's part, 
you may rightly expect their interest in the lesson to flag. 
If you happen to be the secretary, or the superintendent, 
you have a fine opportunity to help or hurt the interest 
of pupils in their work. The noisy, bustling secretary 
who stirs around gathering class books and collection 
envelopes while the classes are in session, probably takes 
away ten per cent, from the effectiveness of each lesson. 
A similar result comes from the superintendent who con- 
verses while others are teaching and later bangs the bell and 
calls for order as though Sunday-school was a military drill. 

Finally, the very cause of distraction may be used to 
interest. A Sunday-school worker visiting a school was 
asked to take a lively class of fifteen-year-old boys whose 
teacher was absent. One boy, with a pair of pincers, was 
stirring up all the boys near him. Asking for the pincers 
the teacher illustrated how he had seen them used in a 
sleigh-bell factory to fasten the bells to the straps. Having 
thus secured their attention, he at once directed it to 
the lesson for the day. 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 29 

Many aids to interest-gaining may hurt 
6. POINTERS more than they help. If you use an 

object lesson, or a story, simply to arouse 
interest or to amuse, your time is wasted. If the interest 
thus aroused and directed cannot be carried a step farther — 
to the central theme of the lesson — it is useless to arouse 
it. No lesson "needs to be made interesting"; it is 
interesting already if you will only find the point in it 
that means something to your pupils. And what proves 
interesting this month, will not, in the same form, be 
interesting ten months hence. The lesson, too, must 
progress, go on, work up to a climax, as was suggested in 
the chapter on " Planning to Teach the Lesson." Finally, 
wise teachers help their pupils to form habits of being 
interested in the lesson; when this is done, half the battle 
is over. The next chapter considers this problem. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Describe an instance you have observed of one 
inattentive pupil in a class where others are paying 
attention. Suggest a cure. 

2. In a certain school a whole class of boys were observed 
looking out of the window while the teacher was reading 
to them from the Quarterly. What was the trouble? 
Report any instance of an inattentive class you have 
yourself observed; state cause and suggest cure. 

3. What new methods can be used rightly to direct 
the pupils' interest? 

4. Describe how you (or your teacher) made last Sun- 
day's lesson concrete. 

5. What definite " point of contact" did you use (or 
hear used) last Sunday? 

6. What "point of contact" can you suggest for next 
Sunday's lesson in a Primary class? 

7. How could distractions be better avoided in your 
Sunday-school? 



LESSON III 
Training the Pupils in Good Habits 

1. TEACHING TESTED The test of Sunday-school teach- 
BY CONDUCT ing must be the pupils' actions; 

it is a waste of time merely to 
give our pupils ideas which are unrelated to their con- 
duct. The final estimate of any education must be on 
this basis: Has this class given its pupils " moving ideas, 
motive forces for the guidance of conduct"? The worst 
thief in the world usually knows the laws better than 
most of us; he knoivs, but he doesn't do. Is your 
Sunday-school teaching the kind that influences acts as 
well as thoughts; can you think of any pupils who are 
better boys or girls in action today, because 3^ou have 
been their teacher? It may often be hard to measure 
this influence upon conduct, or to point to definite results, 
but this should always be the goal. Christ died to make 
us be better men and women, not merely to make us 
think more holy thoughts. 

2. GUIDING A very large percentage of our actions are 
INSTINCTS the result of instincts— inborn tenden- 
cies to behavior that each individual 

has when life begins. We are shy or assertive, in- 
terested or uninterested in persons and things, sociable 
or secretive, generous or miserly, largely because of the 
instincts which were born in us. One of the biggest 
problems for any teacher, accordingly, is to learn to 
utilize the pupil's instincts to the best advantage; this 
is just as necessary in the Sunday-school as in the public 
school. Every teacher, no matter how limited his or 
her training may be, should note: 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 31 

1. There are both good and bad instincts. The rigorists, 
who held that everything people did by nature was wrong, 
were as incorrect as those modern psychologists who hold 
that human nature is always right. The good instincts 
need development: the bad instincts need control. 

2. Instincts develop just as truly as the body develops. 
The moral and religious instincts of children develop, 
yet sometimes we want fifteen-year-old moral and religious 
natures in ten-year-old boys and girls. The child of ten 
whose chief interest is in prayer-meeting w r ould be ab- 
normal; his religious instincts should prompt him to do 
deeds of kindness and service more than to "testify in 
meeting." Morality is expressed in one way by adults 
and in quite another way by children. Young men and 
young women may observe Sunday by quietly read- 
ing or writing; boys and girls need the out-of-doors, 
and the wise Sunday-school teacher will not try to repress 
this natural instinctive vigor, but will join with them and 
help them to express it by walking, for instance, instead 
of by stealing apples. It is instinct that makes a boy want 
to whittle everything he can find — help him to cut out 
a model of the Ark or the Temple, instead of defacing the 
pews. The giggling girl is a natural expression of the 
period of adolescence; do not scold her, try to direct her. 
Instincts develop; do not expect full-grown instincts in 
half-growm children. 

3. Instincts need direction. Children cry and fight 
and steal and lie and make trouble in Sunday-school and 
are naughty in other ways, because of misdirected 
instincts. What is the teacher to do with bad instincts, 
such as those that prompt boys to fight and girls to 
be selfish? Many of these bad instincts really need 
re-direction. The boy who bullies smaller boys in 
your school, partly, at least, because of the instinct of 
self-assertion and leadership, may be made secretary 
of your class, and may work out his managing tendency 



32 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

in a way that helps instead of harms. The girls who, 
prompted partly by the social instinct, are wasting too 
much time in aimless ways with " their crowd," may be 
formed into a club which will take charge of decorat- 
ing the church each Sunday, or render similar services. 
Even the " tough boys" in your neighborhood may be 
attracted to your Sunday-school if you use their "gang" 
instincts by giving the class a "taking" name and a com- 
plete organization, and by starting them at some task, 
as, for example, making their town famous as a "Spotless 
Town." The same sex instinct which, rightly directed, 
leads to love and home-making, wrongly running wild 
leads to vice and sin. In life, as in algebra, learn to 
"eliminate by substitution." Watch the instinctive acts 
of your pupils; a few will need repression — which is a very 
difficult task; others may be redirected and more wisely 
and fully developed. A great many Sunday-school 
teachers need more boy and girl study rather than more 
lesson study. 

3. STRENGTHENING When instincts have been directed, 
HABITS trained, and frequently followed, 

they become habits, either good 
or bad. Here also the Sunday-school teacher has a force 
which can help or harm her work, according to the way 
she treats it. What habits are being formed in your 
pupils? None? Impossible; habits are being formed 
every moment of their lives. If your pupils are not forming 
the habits of attention, interest, and politeness, they are, 
inevitably, every time they meet you, forming habits of 
inattention, heedlessness, and impoliteness. Do you not 
see how immensely important it is to help them to form 
the right habits? A Sunday-school where the pupils are 
noisy, disobedient, discourteous, and irreverent may be 
worse for its pupils than no Sunday-school at all. Every 
act of life helps to make some habit, good or bad; the 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 33 

teacher's obligation — and opportunity — is to see that 
everything in the Sunday-school tends to make right 
instead of wrong habits in its pupils. For example: 

1. A habit of promptness may be formed. When pupils 
are tardy do you tactfully and quietly show your disap- 
pointment, or do you ignore it entirely? If the latter is 
the case, are you not helping to confirm the late pupil in 
the habit of tardiness? 

2. A habit of attention may be formed. Does the 
inattentive pupil — never by scolding but possibly by a 
word or two when the lesson is over — know that you saw 
and regretted his inattention? Or do you lecture this pupil 
so much in public that he is forming the habit of expecting 
such criticism and steeling himself against it? Especially do 
you, by your own close attention to the business at hand, 
inspire your pupils to follow the same course? 

3. A habit of accuracy may be formed. Every time 
you accept without remark a wrong or an incomplete 
answer, or give indiscriminate praise when only part of 
the assigned work has been done, you help to form in 
your pupils the habit of being satisfied with less than 
full accuracy and clear understanding. Can your pupils 
say — as many can — "Oh, Miss Smith won't care if I've 
read only half the lesson and looked up a few answers"? 

4. Other habits are being unconsciously formed by 
your pupils at every session of the class. Does your 
influence aid them to form the habit of service — helping 
one another, sharing books, calling on sick members — or 
does it promote in them the " each-f or-himself" atti- 
tude? Is it helping them to feel that they are a part of 
the Sunday-school and the church, or does your attitude 
develop in them the habit of feeling that they are "sent" 
to Sunday-school, a place in which they have no special 
part or interest? Are you helping them to develop a 
habit of reverence for God's house? Does their conduct 
in Sunday-school make them more helpful and obedient 



34 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

in their homes, or do you, unconsciously, help them to 
form habits of impoliteness and disobedience? 

Schools are habit factories : see that yours turns out a 
good product. To do this, and form the good habits 
already mentioned, each teacher should remember three 
rules for habit-making. First, make the action which you 
wish to have become a habit, bring pleasure to the 
pupil, and the action which you wish to have him freed 
from, bring him discomfort. Promptness, attention, 
accuracy, service, co-operation, politeness, and obedience 
should all bring some reward to the pupil — sometimes a 
tangible reward like a star, a card, or a book, but often- 
times merely a smile of appreciation or a word of thanks 
and congratulation quietly spoken (beware of developing 
" teacher's pets") will bring the sense of satisfaction which 
is needed to weld the good action into an unconscious 
habit. Second, never permit exceptions in the actions 
which you want to have grow into habits. This is hard 
but it pays. If you countenance discourtesy and inatten- 
tion next Sunday, it may break down all the opposite 
good habits you have helped your pupils to form during 
the preceding month. Finally, " strike while the iron is 
hot"; have the feeling of satisfaction follow the good act 
as soon as possible; learn which habits should be stressed 
early in life and which later on. You can form in Primary 
pupils a habit of obedience which, if not already estab- 
lished, will be very difficult to develop in Seniors; while 
the latter can gain the habit of co-operation in service 
which is not so fully possible in younger children. 

4. USING THE Memory is only a specialized mental habit. 
MEMORY When you say, " Repeat the First Psalm," 
the habit of reciting certain words and 
sentences in response to that request, brings that psalm 
to mind rather than the Twenty-third. A pupil who has 
studied his lesson, recites it because, in that study, he 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 35 

formed the habit, for instance, of saying "Saul" when 
asked the name of Israel's first king. Thus memory is a 
habit much used in the Sunday-school. Note how this 
habit can best be trained in your pupils: 

1. Some things should be memorized word for word 
("learned by heart"); others need to be memorized by 
retaining the general idea, or central thought. See 
that you train your class in both forms of the memory 
habit. 

2. Try to make what is to be retained in the memory 
vivid. Furnish as many helps as possible; for example, 
make use of visual memory, getting a mental picture, 
("What do you suppose this looked like?") ; auditory mem- 
ory, relating the present to other things already memo- 
rized, ("Who was the son of David, the great king about 
whom we studied last week?"); and similar aids. 

With younger children, visual memory should be 
strengthened by frequent use. For example: A series 
of pictures or words, either on cards or on blackboard, 
may tell the story of a Bible incident. Each Beatitude 
may be taught in connection with a Bible story and some 
illustrating picture. A picture of an idol would naturally 
recall the First Commandment, etc. 

3. Use what has been memorized. Always call for any 
memory texts and recitations. If you ask pupils to do 
special outside work, be sure to call for reports upon it. 
You and I do not waste time in memorizing or learning 
things that will not be really useful to us; apply this in 
your Sunday-school memory work. 

4. Explain the best methods of training the habit 
of remembering (memory) and of study. Few pupils 
really know how to study a Sunday-school lesson; go over 
one with them in class, showing them how to use the 
Bible, the Quarterly, maps, and other aids. Never let 
pupils form the habit of studying in the wrong way, or 
of memorizing things that are of no use in life. 



36 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

5. RECITING 1. Competition between different classes 
MEMORIZED in memorizing Scripture will often 
PASSAGES quicken and sustain interest. In such 
competition the passages to be commit- 
ted (whole sections or chapters to be taken in weekly por- 
tions) should be carefully selected and assigned in advance. 
Testaments or Bibles or other rewards may be offered. 
2. Another good plan is to have one class after another 
rise during the closing exercises, and repeat, either as 
a class or separately, one or more Scripture verses com- 
mitted during the week. These verses may be on a special 
topic announced in advance, thus leading to some Bible 
searching by the classes. In that case the location of the 
passage should be stated before it is recited. A record 
of the number recited by each class should be kept by the 
secretary and reported from time to time. 

The central point in all this chapter is to train your 
pupils' instincts and habits and memories so that they 
will be useful to them, so that they will help them to live 
serviceable Christian lives. 



QUESTIONS 

1 . What instincts did you observe at work in the Sunda}'- 
school last week? 

2. Which of these were bad instincts that needed 
redirection? 

3. How are the teaching in your class and the manage- 
ment of your school forming either good or bad. habits in 
the pupils? Give examples. 

4. How should the pupils' memory be trained and used? 

5. What good plan of memorizing Scripture have you 
seen in operation? 

6. What new plans for your class or school have you 
gained in studying this chapter? 



LESSON IV 

Asking Questions 

1. WHY Anyone can ask questions; it is the first 

IMPORTANT thing the lisping child does. Questions 
are the chief tool of most teachers; some 
of us would fail to hold our classes for ten minutes if we 
could not "fire questions at them." Asking questions 
seems the easiest and simplest part of teaching, but there 
are two kinds of questions, good and bad ones. The 
first five questions any Sunday-school teacher asks, will 
show whether he is a good or a poor teacher. You spend 
an hour or two, perhaps more, in studying your lesson; 
do you ever spend five minutes in planning out the ques- 
tions you are going to ask? The most learned biblical 
scholar will absolutely fail to hold and influence a class of 
Sunday-school children unless he has learned the art of 
asking questions. It will pay to consider this all-important 
part of Sunday-school teaching. 

Why does a teacher ask questions? To do one or another 
of three things: to test the pupil's knowledge; to stimulate 
and interest him, or to help him develop the truth of the 
answer. Most teachers neglect the developmental ques- 
tion and thereby their teaching loses in effectiveness. Too 
many teachers use test questions like a gatling gun, often 
with no expectation of having them fully answered, but 
simply to try to "keep the class moving." Three ques- 
tions to a minute is the rate observed in some classes — 
what chance does this give for any real answering, much 
less for any thought or for bringing the point home? It is 
safe advice to most teachers to tell them to use just half 
as many questions as they are accustomed to ask and to 



38 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

frame them more thoughtfully. This does not, however, 
mean make them more difficult. 

Christ is the pre-eminent example of a teacher who 
effectively used questions which arouse and stimulate 
interest. "What think ye?" was his familiar reply to 
any inquiry. How often do you ask questions which 
cannot be immediately answered out of the Bible or the 
Quarterly, but which call for the use of the pupiPs judg- 
ment? A few such well-prepared questions will help to 
solve the problem of the all-important first five minutes. 
Many teachers forget that a skilled teacher can ask ques- 
tions in such a way that the pupil finally gives the answer 
which he did not know he possessed. Always try to 
follow an "I don't know" with other questions which will 
enable the pupil to work out the answer from facts which 
you know he already possesses. 

2. BAD 1. A bad question can be answered 

QUESTIONS by "yes" or "no." Perhaps nine-tenths 
of the questions asked in Sunday-school 
are of this type. They do little testing (there are only 
two possible answers), encourage guessing, and stimulate 
but little thought and interest. A few such, for quick 
review or emphasis, may be wise; try not to let over 
one-tenth of your questions be of this kind. 

2. Indicates its own answer. The way you ask the 
question, the modulation of your voice, your attitude — 
all these suggest to the answerer what you want him to 
say. Perhaps five out of every six Sunday-school questions 
suggest their answer; in other words, "they beg the ques- 
tion." How much thought do they require? 

3. Requires two answers. Never ask questions so phrased 
that two answers are called for. Example: "What did 
Paul do then, and why?" Always break these up into two 
separate questions. "What did Paul do then?" "Why 
did he do this?" 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 39 

4. Is not clear. Perhaps the question has too many 
words and clauses in it, so that it is hard to get the 
point. Or it may have in it words that confuse the 
pupil. Use every-day words (in this follow Jesus' illus- 
trious example). Frame short, clear-cut questions, with 
verbs of action, if possible. 

5. Has pupiPs name at the beginning. " Charles, what 
did Samuel do next?" is a bad question; the others in 
the class know who is being questioned as soon as his 
name is uttered, and may cease to pay attention. Put the 
name of the answerer at the end of the question. 

3. GOOD 1. A good question stimulates mental 

QUESTIONS action. There is hardly any other 
justification for a question. Questions 
are not asked for the sake of the answers, but for the sake 
of the answerers. If every question is so easy that every 
pupil can answer it you need to revise your questions. 
Do not insult your class by showing, in your questions, 
that you doubt whether they have brains. 

2. Is adapted to the class. Ask it in their language, not 
always in scriptural phrase. Try to get answers that 
indicate your pupils' personal attitude and judgment. 
Never shame an earnest but slow mind. Question every 
pupil during every lesson. Ask certain questions of the 
whole class, but mostly of individuals. Questions for 
boys should often differ from those asked of girls; consider 
and appeal to their individual traits. Do not ask more 
questions of the brightest pupil than you do of the dull- 
est. At the same time ask the dullest a question which 
you think he should be able to answer. 

It is inspiring to watch a skilful teacher adapt his 
questions to the individual members of his class; to the 
bright boy such a thought-provoking one that he is 
instantly on his mettle to solve it; to the dull boy one so 
framed that it helps him to use what he knows to reach 



40 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

the answer sought. In this way through the whole 
class period every scholar will be alert and contributing 
his share toward class interest and profit. Work toward 
this ideal, even if it seems far removed from your own 
capabilities. 

3. Cannot be answered by a guess. Never encourage 
that; help pupils to think out the answer, but not to jump 
at it blindly and thoughtlessly. Nothing is worse than 
a question so vague that one has to guess at its answer. 
What kind of teaching is this: "Yes, that is right, but 
that is not the answer I want"? 

4. Is never repeated. It is human nature for pupils, 
when called upon, to ask you to repeat your question. 
Do not encourage them in this habit. Ask it the first 
time clearly and distinctly; if one pupil does not get it, 
ask the answer of another. 

5. Has a social value for the whole class. Are you 
simply a quiz-master grilling each pupil, or are you all 
studying together some great topic, on which all should 
have ideas? Do your pupils ask questions of you, or of 
one another? If the class is a real unit for the accomplish- 
ment of Christian living, team work should be its spirit. 
To some questions the answers of the class, coming from 
less mature Christians, will naturally differ from your own . 
Their judgment on certain points may differ among them- 
selves; if sincerely given, so much the better. Always 
respect a pupil's answer; he has a perfect right to his per- 
sonal opinion. The spirit should be one of "give and 
take"; accordingly, no good teacher will read questions 
from a printed list; mechanical teaching, no matter how 
correct, is lifeless. Think over your questions before the 
class meets; write out the most important; study and 
revise them; then bring them to the class in your head 
and heart while the paper lies at home. Practice of this 
sort will soon make questions of the right kind come 
naturally to your lips. 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 41 

There are, accordingly, as we have seen, two kinds of 
questions — the good and the bad. A little care will help 
you to use more of the former and fewer of the latter, 
thus increasing the effectiveness of your instruction and 
the pleasure which both you and your class derive from 
your teaching. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Revise this question, indicating its poor features: 
"John, don't you think Joseph was praiseworthy for 
succoring his relatives who were in need of assistance?" 

2. Watch the questions in your class next Sunday, and 
report several that worked effectively. 

3. How do you encourage your pupils to ask questions? 

4. What new suggestions has this chapter given to you? 

5. Write out two good questions on this chapter. 

6. Write three good questions for Junior pupils on the 
next Sunday-school lesson. 



LESSON V 
Making the Lesson Vivid 

1. THE "Your Bible stories are awful dry and 
PROBLEM tiresome. I'd much rather hear about 

Connie Mack." John's mental protest 
may be justified, but if so the fault is his teacher's, and 
not due to any " dryness" in the material. The Bible 
stories are the most vivid and dramatic any race has ever 
heard; no thousand other books have so impressed and 
interested and moved their readers as has this Book. The 
teacher's problem, then, is to learn the art of handling 
this intensely interesting material so that it will attract 
and influence the pupils. The most exciting story ever 
written can be made deadly dull if badly told; a skilled 
teacher can put some life and compelling interest even 
into the driest genealogical chapter in the Bible. Study 
and preparation are necessary to attain the right method 
of making the lesson vivid. 

Because the Bible stories are old and 

2. STORIES familiar, some teachers despair of making 

them vivid to their pupils. The trite must 
be made living by the teacher. Hundreds of children 
who have been going to Sunday-school for years would 
be surprised if you explained to them, on a map, where 
Palestine is, or if you showed photographs of the actual 
places where events in Christ's life took place. Bible 
places and events have always been unreal to them, 
shrouded in a sort of mystery. This the true teacher 
must overcome. 

There are three familiar means of making a lesson vivid 
— stories, objects, and pictures. No place offers such 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 43 

splendid opportunities for effective story-telling as the 
Sunday-school; yet in few places are stories so poorly 
told. One authority has said that no real teaching is 
possible unless the teacher can tell a story. The story- 
telling gift was one of the conspicuous characteristics of 
the Great Teacher; questions about God's love, and man's 
love for his fellow-man were answered by the two greatest 
stories in literature, the Prodigal Son and the Good 
Samaritan. Note these suggestions to help you tell the 
story: 

1. Use material adapted to your hearers. You may 
puzzle more than you enlighten when you tell country 
children a story about a taxicab driver's unfaithfulness. 
Long, unusual words will spoil the best story ever written. 
Use incidents that fit the pupil's experience and tell them 
in his language. The best stories for boys and girls are 
those of action, with an example which they can imitate. 

2. Be sure your story is adapted to the lesson. There 
are thousands of stories that are interesting but which 
have nothing to do with today's lesson; if you tell such, 
the time taken is wasted and you have diverted — not 
attracted — the pupil's attention. Be sure the story is 
worth telling today; then tell it as well as you can. 

3. Do not tack on a moral. Tell your story so pointedly 
that the class itself will catch the point and apply it. 
Nathan did not lecture David for his sin — he told him a 
story and when David exclaimed, "The man that hath 
done this thing shall surely die," Nathan said, "Thou 
art the man." Christ ended his wonderful story of the 
Good Samaritan with "Which, thinkest thou, was neigh- 
bor to him who fell among thieves?" If the listeners 
know the story is directed at them, their judgment is 
apt to be biased. The "moral" should be woven into the 
story, never added as an after r thought. 

4. When you have decided upon your story, prepare 
it for your class thus: (1) Possess it; know the facts by 



44 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

heart, never refer to a book or a paper, make it a part 
of you. (2) Practice it; say it over and over, shortening 
or expanding it and mastering each detail. (3) Present 
it; this means more than mere telling; it means that you 
see and feel it, that your imagination pictures the scene — 
at the turn of the Jericho road, for example — and that 
you can arouse the imagination of your class so that they, 
too, see and feel it. Always be sure your story is one of 
action, that something happens, and that in presenting it 
you use direct discourse. Example: not, "The boy decided 
to go home and ask forgiveness/ ' but, "He came to himself 
and said, I will arise and go to my father, and will say 

unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven " 

Suggestions for story-telling such as these, if followed 
faithfully, will make you a better teacher and increase 
your enjoyment in teaching. 

As we wish to make our Sunday-school a 
3. OBJECTS preparation for real life — an aid to living 

as active Christians — we should use every 
means which we can find for making our teaching vivid 
and concrete. Actually to see and feel the object about 
which one is speaking, greatly intensifies the lesson. 
Beecher drove home the evils of slavery by conducting 
an imaginary slave auction. Moody illustrated his 
sermon on conversion by trying to purify the dirty water 
in a glass by pouring in clean water. John Jones was 
never very much impressed with the need of foreign 
missions until he saw a repulsive wooden idol that the 
natives of India worshiped. Objects from Palestine, 
such as coins, pressed flowers, lamps, a girdle, a sling, 
if carefully used, may greatly vivify a lesson. The 
teacher who thinks can often find at hand an object 
which will fix the attention of the class and help to drive 
the point home. (Example, secret sin: a piece of wood 
looking fine on the outside, but decayed and worm-eaten 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 45 

inside.) In every case the skilled teacher will see that the 
objects help toward the lesson's central point, and that 
not too many are used. 

With younger children, do not use objects as symbols 
of spiritual truth, but simply as aids in the clear presenta- 
tion of the lesson facts. The minds of little children are 
not ready to go beyond the material to the spiritual of 
which it is a type. 

If the object itself cannot be procured, 
4. PICTURES pictures are an aid in making the lesson 

vivid. They appeal to the eye, thus 
giving an impression additional to that which enters 
the ear gate. They often correct mistaken impressions 
and clarify the mental pictures which we have. They 
help to make the lesson story real, and then serve as a 
good means to draw from the pupils their own account 
of what they have been taught. Pictures of works of 
art present ideals and inspire us. Among the suggestions 
for the best use of pictures note the following: 

1. Use reproductions of works of art, when possible. 
The American Sunday-School Union has two new series 
of pictures, one on the Old Testament, the other on the 
New, chosen and reproduced with special care, and 
accompanied by helpful description, telling you how to 
use them to best advantage. They cost but little and 
may be made very effective. 

2. Photographs of Palestine as it looks today vivify 
the lesson greatly. Any Sunday-school publishing com- 
pany will help you secure these. 

3. Scores of helpful pictures can be found today in 
many homes. Many magazines have pictures which may 
be used effectively. Often the advertising pages may 
be made useful in illustrating a Sunday-school lesson. 
What makes a temperance lesson more pointed than two 
pictures side by side — one of a clean-cut, well-dressed 



46 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

man taking a drink, the other of a disheveled drunkard 
leaning up against a saloon? No words are needed to 
drive this contrast home. If you can, use a blackboard 
in your class, or if not, then a drawing pad. Be sure your 
drawings are simple and really illustrative. Those given 
in teachers' journals like the Sunday-School World will 
help you here. 

5. HANDWORK All of these tools — stories, objects, and 
FOR PUPILS pictures — have thus far been considered 
as used by the teacher only. A lesson be- 
comes still more vivid when the pupil takes an active part 
himself. Of course he will do this by answering questions, 
but cannot the pupil use these tools himself? Consider 
these suggestions: 

1. Assign different pupils to tell a part of the lesson 
story or to look up and report upon a similar story told 
elsewhere. Some older pupils may be willing to recite 
a short poem or a fine paragraph bearing upon the 
lesson theme. 

2. Pupils can make objects that will vivify the lesson. 
Show them how to construct, of paper, wood, or cloth, 
models of the Temple, the Tabernacle, a Jewish house, a 
tent, and other significant objects of Bible times. 

3. Maps afford a fine opportunity for pupil participa- 
tion. Get outline maps and have your pupils color them 
and locate the important places; or the map in your 
Quarterly may be used, having each place underlined as 
you come to it in the lessons. Another good plan is to 
have your pupils trace the order of events by drawing 
routes on the map, outlining Christ's movements, Paul's 
journeys, the Wilderness wanderings, the conquest of 
Canaan, or the like. Such map work should not be 
undertaken until pupils have already learned to make 
maps in day-school; usually at about nine or ten years 
of age. 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 47 

4. For younger pupils a sand table (fine white sand 
from a foundry, if possible, on a board with a raised edge) 
can be used to make relief maps, models of mountains, 
of the region surrounding the Sea of Galilee or Jerusalem. 
The sand table may also be used as a setting for the 
lesson story, with blocks for houses and walls, a tiny boat, 
twigs for trees, bits of looking-glass for seas, sticks for 
men. The teacher should handle this material herself, 
or very carefully direct it, lest its use degenerate into 
mere play. 

5. Notebooks may be kept by each pupil. The advanced 
students might write brief essays on assigned topics; the 
younger boys and girls might illustrate their books with 
magazine and other pictures, then letter the lesson title 
in color, and bind the books for preservation. Every boy 
or girl is apt to have the scrapbook-making instinct; 
why not use this in the Sunday-school? 

6. Emphasize the social side of all of this work. It is 
for the class, not for the teacher. The pupil tells the story 
for his fellow-pupils; a class lesson book, illustrated and 
lettered by each member in turn, may be kept; models 
may be made with the co-operation of all the pupils. This 
helps to make them feel that they have an important 
place in Sunday-school, and intensifies the social spirit 
so needed in our religious teaching. An exhibit of the 
work done in the school may also be made in connection 
with a social gathering, or a district or county Sunday- 
school convention. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Tell a carefully planned story next Sunday. Then 
report how it worked and how you could improve it 
another time. 

2. Point out three examples of Christ's use of stories. 
Tell what his way of teaching by them suggests to you. 



48 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

3. What activities, beside answering questions and 
singing, do the pupils engage in at your Sunday-school? 
What new activities can you introduce? 

4. What use of pictures can you make to increase the 
vividness of your teaching? 

5. Is your class doing anything together as a class to 
vivify the truths of the lesson? What could you do? 



LESSON VI 

Influencing the Pupils 

1. TRAINING PLUS A knowledge of right teaching prin- 
CONSECRATION ciples — planning the lesson, influ- 
encing habit-forming, framing effec- 
tive questions, securing the pupils' co-operation — all this 
is of great importance to the teacher; and, if applied, 
will materially improve the teaching. But a person may 
know all the principles of teaching and yet be a failure 
as a teacher; another person may be almost uneducated 
and yet be a real success in the Sunday-school. Many 
of us know teachers who never even heard about les- 
son planning, and have received no suggestions about 
using stories, objects, or pictures, and yet have deeply 
influenced the young people in their classes. Numbers 
of men and women look back to such teachers as the 
greatest force for molding their characters that they 
have ever experienced. Teaching, then, can never be 
merely a matter of rule and reason; it is a deeply personal 
concern where character and ideals count even more than 
pedagogical skill. No rules or suggestions can supply 
this quality; it is a part of what is called personality. The 
cultivation of the right personality is a more important 
concern than the mastery and application of all the 
suggestions in this book; wiiere can you or I develop 
such a personality except by the side of the greatest of 
all teachers, our Lord Jesus Christ? If our pupils are 
to learn of him through us, we must be sure that we really 
know him ourselves — that we have been saved from sin 



50 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

by his death on the cross, and are kept from falling into 
sin by the help which he daily gives us. This is the 
essence of all true consecration. 

2. UNCONSCIOUS Unconscious learning is the most 
INFLUENCE impressive and lasting type of edu- 
cation. When we are influenced 

by a person whom we admire, we unconsciously imitate 
his thoughts, attitudes, and habits. This is the supreme 
opportunity for the Sunday-school teacher. Such teachers 
could help to mold Christian character even if they were 
trying to teach Sanskrit or wood-carving; what they are, 
not what they say, impresses itself upon other lives. You 
may, next Sunday, without knowing it, help your pupils 
to gain habits of reverence and gracious manners, to ap- 
preciate the beauties of God's handiwork, to undertake 
with divine help to live noble Christian lives. 

3. YOUR Your influence as a teacher will be determined 
IDEAL largely by the ideal you set before you for 

your teaching. You may have seen the differ- 
ence between the work of the public-school teacher who is 
teaching simply "until something better turns up," and 
of one who is devoting the life to it as a noble calling. 
Many a Sunday-school teacher has as an ideal "to keep 
the Sunday-school going/' "to keep my class quiet," 
"to keep my girls from dropping out," "to keep my 
boys from playing ball on Sunday"- — worthy ideals 
indeed, but far below that toward which we should strive. 
The ideal in every class should be to develop devoted 
Christians who will undertake work in the Church for 
the world. In the face of such a wonderful opportunity, 
any lower ideal seems almost ignoble. Who knows what 
deeds of Christian service your teaching may lead your 
pupils to do? Think of the joy of the quiet little woman 
whose Sunday-school teaching led to the conversion and 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 51 

consecration of one of the greatest living evangelists. 
Scores of us owe what we are today largely to the 
inspiration of a long-suffering teacher in that restless and 
troublesome Sunday-school class of our boyhood. 

Do not be content, then, with anything short of definite 
decision by each pupil to accept Christ as Saviour and 
Lord. Then encourage public confession of him and 
growth in his likeness by following his example in service. 

Remember, too, an ideal is worth little unless it seems 
almost impossible of accomplishment; those who aim low 
have never moved the world; those who aim high have had 
to fall back on God's inexhaustible strength. 

4. BELIEVE IN YOUR No teacher can have much 

TASK AND YOURSELF influence over his pupils unless 

he believes in his task, in 
his God, and in himself as God uses him. If the Sunday- 
school to you is a bore and a trial which might as well 
be given up, be assured that your teaching will be of 
like quality. A good motto for Sunday-school teachers 
is, "No quitters allowed here." Of course there will be 
obstacles — think of those that Jesus faced; of course 
there will be criticism and discouragement. You must 
believe in yourself — not that you are a skilful teacher, 
but that in God's providence, you are the teacher for this 
class and here lies your opportunity. "Whatsoever thy 
hand." No matter how small the task, or how much 
better you think Mr. Brown or Mrs. Smith could do it, 
accept it as yours — yours to make or to mar. If you are 
convinced of the value of the task, and of your place in it, 
you will be a faithful teacher, not the kind who feels no 
qualms of conscience at deserting his class once a month; 
a brave teacher, w^ho will not give up when only one 
pupil appears; and an optimistic teacher, who, no matter 
how hard the task, looks forward hopefully to it. The 
Sunday-school has no place for the pessimist. 



52 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

5. PERSONAL The teacher who seeks to influ- 
CHARACTERISTICS ence pupils by life, as well as 

by teaching, will be careful in 
regard to many personal traits, which greatly influence 
a class. They are quickly affected by your voice, face, 
manners, and general bearing. The wise teacher modu- 
lates the voice; keeps it, as far as possible, at a conver- 
sational pitch; avoids high, harsh tones, and speaks 
distinctly. He knows that the face is the window of 
the soul, and so he has learned the value of a smile of 
appreciation, and of a general look of happiness, instead 
of the glum, determined visage of which all who have to 
do with young people need to beware. He knows that 
his manners are on exhibition, and that the class will 
note any infringement of polite conduct. He tries to see 
that his movements are not hurried; that his clothes are 
neither untidy nor so striking as to attract attention. 
Before your Sunday-school class be sure to justify the 
claim that you are a gentleman or a lady. The teacher 
who seeks to influence his pupils aright avoids the hurly- 
burly flutter to which some are prone: he knows that a 
nervous teacher makes a nervous, inattentive class. He 
solves the problem of keeping order by constant interest 
in each pupil, trying to keep each one engaged and 
always relying less upon coercion than upon incentives 
to right conduct; he develops a class consciousness that 
makes its pupils proud that their class has the best atten- 
dance or deportment; above all, he never commits the 
fatal mistake of losing his temper, no matter how vexa- 
tious the situation. While such a teacher may be a rarity, 
each can strive to become more like this ideal. 

A teacher's attitude toward the class 

6. ATTITUDE limits or increases his influence over them. 

One teacher expects the class to misbe- 
have and not to know their lessons; usually the expec- 
tation proves true. Another shows faith in the class; 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 53 

appeals to them positively, not negatively, never using 
that much overworked word, "don't"; sees each good 
thing they do and judiciously praises it, minimizing 
failures. He is not merely the teacher, but also part of 
the class, and accordingly says "we," not "you," and 
"our class"; he respects each pupil's individuality and 
acknowledges the pupil's right to differ from the teacher 
on certain points; he does not claim complete knowledge 
and is eager to learn with the class; he is absolutely sin- 
cere, and strives to be the friend of each pupil. 

7. CHARACTER All of this resolves itself into the state- 
COUNTS ment that a teacher's character counts 

more than his teaching. "What you 
are speaks so loud, I cannot hear w T hat you say." "An 
ounce of life is worth more than a pound of preaching." 
A person cannot give what he does not have, and you and 
I cannot help others to develop Christian characters unless 
we first possess them ourselves. "The Lord hath need" — 
need of us to teach and help the young; God forbid that 
any of us should fail to help him because of our own 
selfishness and sin. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Which of your own Sunday-school teachers most 
influenced your hfe? How? 

2. Of all the Sunday-school teachers you now know, 
describe the one who seems to you to have the strongest 
influence for good. 

3. How is order maintained in your own class? 

4. How many of its pupils have confessed Christ and 
united with the church during the past year or two? 

5. What has been done to develop in it a spirit of class 
loyalty? 

6. What do you think is your own real motive in 
Sunday-school teaching? 



LESSON VII 
Jesus the Best of All Teachers 

1. HE CONSTANTLY The greater part of Jesus' brief 

TAUGHT public ministry was devoted to 

teaching. The one scene which 
has been described for us connected with his passing from 
boyhood to youth (Luke 2:41-51) shows him emerging 
from learner into teacher. From the entrance upon his 
active career in Galilee (Matt. 4:23) teaching was his 
habit (Mark 10:1) and the evening before his crucifixion 
was devoted to giving his chosen class the most precious 
teachings ever recorded (John 14, 15 and 16). 

He used the synagogues, when they were open to him 
(Luke 4:16; John 18:20) as we use the church and 
Sunday-school room, but he did not confine his teaching 
within their walls. He taught the crowds when they 
flocked to him on mountain or by seaside, but he gave 
himself just as freely to individuals whom he met on 
crowded streets, or by the well-side, or on the flat roof of 
the oriental house. 

When he found those who were ready to follow him, he 
formed a special group to whose training for service after 
his departure he devoted himself without stint or limit. 
He was infinitely patient with pupils who were slow to 
learn or self-opinionated yet loyal at heart (Luke 22 : 31, 32; 
John 14:8,9). 

He had no "hours" during which he could be seen. 
His disciples were with him, often by day and by night. 
From the records of his teaching preserved for us in the 
Gospels, we may learn how to follow his example in our 
own teaching. 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 55 

2. HE ADAPTED THE He taught adults chiefly. This 
TRUTH TO ALL was necessary because of the 

brief period in which his work 
must be accomplished. Others must be trained to teach 
the coming generation. But we read that he loved the 
eager young man who came running to ask about eternal 
life (Mark 10:21); that he spoke with infinite tenderness 
to the little daughter of the Jewish ruler as he lifted her 
up to new life (Mark 5:41); that he taught humility 
through a child set in the midst (Mark 9:33-37); and 
that he gave his special blessing to the youngest of all 
(Luke 18: 15-17). 

3. HE TAUGHT GREAT Although his words were ad- 
TRUTHS SIMPLY dressed mainly to adults and 

dealt with the great truths 
which meet the profoundest needs of the soul, Jesus used 
simple terms, appealing to the experience and common 
sense of his hearers. "The common people heard him 
gladly" (Mark 12:37). His language was pictorial, and 
his illustrations were constantly taken from the most 
familiar objects: from light, and salt, and water; from 
the birds flying through the air and the hen mothering 
her brood; from the common tasks of shepherd, farmer, 
fisherman, house-builder, steward, and house-wife; from 
the crowds pushing through the narrow city gates; from 
the children making the open market-place their play- 
ground; from rich men's feasts and bridal processions; 
from wars and disasters; from all such current events 
and from well-known facts of national history as well. 

4. HE FOUND THE He knew what people were 
POINT OF CONTACT interested in and were thinking 

about. To fishermen he spoke 
of becoming fishers of men; to the woman with her water- 
jar, of the water that satisfies the thirst of the soul; to 



56 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

the multitude just fed with barley loaves, of the Living 
Bread that came down from heaven; to the ruler of the 
Jews, of the Kingdom of God and the only way to enter 
it; to the troubled-hearted disciples, of a heavenly home 
and an abiding Comforter and Guide. 

5. HE BUILT THE UNKNOWN His hearers had the Old 
ON THE KNOWN Testament. Building on 

their acquaintance with 
it, he referred frequently to its facts and teachings: 
to Noah, Lot's wife, Sodom and Gomorrah, "Abraham 
and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets' ' (Luke 
13:28), the serpent of brass, Moses and the Law, 
David and the show-bread, Solomon and his glory, 
David's son and David's lord (Matt. 22:41-45), Jonah 
and Nineveh and the queen of the South (Matt. 12 : 38-42). 
Especially did he show how the incomplete knowledge 
which they already had was to be rounded out into the 
fuller truth that he brought to them (Matt. 5:17, 21, 
27, etc.). 

6. HE TAUGHT BY Thus he made his hearers 
QUESTION AND ANSWER think and led them to 

express their thoughts. 
Both of the lawyer who stood up in public to "make trial 
of him," and of his own impulsive disciple, Jesus required 
a thoughtful answer (Luke 10:36; Matt. 16:15). Even 
in addressing crowds, his manner was conversational and 
direct (Matt. 5:13-16; Luke 4:21; John 8:12-20, etc.). 
Since he was an announcer of truth rather than a driller 
of students, we find him more frequently answering 
questions than asking them. But more than once we 
read of his giving most effective answers by a question in 
return, as when the Pharisees challenged his authority, 
and he called for their verdict regarding his forerunner 
(Matt. 21:23-25). Sometimes he asked a question to add 



EFFECTIVE TEACHING 57 

emphasis to the answer with which he followed it (Matt. 
12:48-50). To sincere questions he always gave the 
most enlightening answers. Notice, for example, the 
great truths uttered in response to the three interruptions 
in John 14 (vs. 5, 8, and 22). Even when the questions 
were insincere or hostile in motive, he used the occasion 
to communicate more truth (John 6:25, 28, and 30; Matt. 
22:17, 28, 36, etc.) In the latter instance he replied 
with questions of universal interest and of deepest import 
(Matt. 22:42, 43, 45). 

7. HE APPLIED HIS "By their fruits ye shall know 
TEACHING TO LIFE them/' he taught. "He that 

abideth in me, and I in him, 
the same beareth much fruit.' ' His directions were 
positive, not prohibitive. The Law said, "Thou shalt 
not"; Jesus said, "Love your enemies"; "This do and 
thou shalt live." He propounded no theories, discussed 
no speculations. As he spoke "with authority" it became 
evident that he was more than a teacher, that "a greater 
than Solomon" was there. We may learn from his 
methods, but we must ourselves obey his teachings before 
we can teach them to our pupils. 

8. HE EXPECTED He sought worshipers for 
DECISION AND ACTION the Father and made them 

seekers of others (John 
4: 23, 29). He was not content merely to sow the seeds of 
truth; he summoned and trained reapers for the harvest 
(Matt. 9:37, 38; 10:5). He himself sought the lost 
ones (Matt. 9:9; Luke 19:10) and taught that his fol- 
lowers should do the same (Luke 14: 21, 22). He welcomed 
those w T ho came to learn from him (John 1 : 39) and went 
after others as well (John 1:43). He saw and drew out 
the best in each (John 1:42, 47). He required open 



58 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

enlistment, not secret discipleship (Luke 12:8, 9). Noth- 
ing short of self -renunciation satisfied him (Luke 14:33; 
Mark 10:21). 

QUESTIONS 

1. Where and whom did Jesus teach? 

2. Why did he necessarily devote himself chiefly to 
adults? 

3. Give three passages in which he illustrated his teach- 
ing from the common experiences of his hearers. 

4. How did he use the Old Testament in his teaching? 
Give two examples. 

5. From his interview with the woman of Samaria in 
John 4, show how (1) Jesus found the point of contact; 
(2) he led from side issues to decision and action; (3) he 
uncovered sin but awakened hope and faith and confession. 

6. In what respects especially do you as a teacher 
desire to be like him? 



REVIEW OF PART I 

LESSON I 

1. What three features naturally belong in any good 
plan of lesson teaching? 

2. Prepare a brief outline plan for teaching any Sunday- 
school lesson you may select, in which each of these 
features shall have a part. 

LESSON II 

3. Mention three helps toward keeping a class inter- 
ested. Illustrate each. 

LESSON III 

4. What good habits can be formed in Sunday-school 
and how? 

5. Mention two good ways of using and strengthening 
the memory. 

LESSON IV 

6. Why is questioning an important method of teaching? 

7. Mention two good kinds of questions and give an 
example of each. 

LESSON V 

8. How should stories be used in teaching? 

9. Point out the value of having pupils do handwork. 



60 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 



LESSON VI 

10. Why is the life of the teacher even more important 
than his teaching? 

11. What should the earnest teacher guard against? 
What should he cultivate? 



LESSON VII 

12. Mention four respects in which Jesus set an example 
to every teacher, and give an illustration of each. 



II 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE 
PUPILS 



LESSON I 
What a Teacher Needs to Know about His Pupils 

1. WHY IS SUCH KNOWL- What are you trying to do 
EDGE NECESSARY? each Sunday? Teach Bible 

facts? The day's lesson? 
Truths about life? Yes; but far more, if you are a 
real teacher you are trying to teach pupils. Your aim 
should be, with God's help, to make your boys and girls 
become Christlike citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven 
on earth, and you strive to do this by teaching them 
about the Bible and the great spiritual facts in each 
Sunday-school lesson. Do not forget that what tests 
your teaching is your pupils' conduct — the changes in their 
character and actions — not anything you may do to the 
Bible or the truths you are teaching; these are unchanged. 
You as a teacher, present or prospective, are a bridge 
between this material and the pupil's mind and heart; 
over you must go the facts and impressions from the 
biblical truth to touch the life of the pupil. What value 
would there be in a bridge whose builders did all their 
work on one end, never trying to make the other end 
secure and solid? Yet many teachers next Sunday will 
do exactly that thing; prepare their lesson without once 
considering the other end of the bridge — the pupil; his 
interests, his present problems, what he can gain from 
this lesson to help him live a better life. 

2. THE SCHOOL IS To whom does your Sunday-school 
FOR THE PUPILS belong? Many schools are run as 

if they belonged to the teachers, 
with everything conducted from the viewpoint of their 
interests and wishes; other schools seem to exist chiefly 



64 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

to carry out certain ideas and plans of the superintendent 
or minister. In every case such a school must be a failure. 
A Sunday-school exists for the pupils, to interest, influence, 
and aid them, and any other aim is a mistaken one. Your 
school is to be tested by the effect it has upon its pupils; 
there is no other test. This test, also, is most readily 
applied by measuring its influence on its least interested 
pupils. Any teacher can influence certain "star" pupils, 
but your class, and your school, must strive especially to 
interest and help the noisy, trouble-making, inattentive 
pupils, for they need it most. Christ said there was more 
rejoicing over the salvation of one "lost sheep" than 
over all the others who were saved. Do you base your 
teaching on that contrast? If, therefore, you have learned 
from the example of the Great Teacher, you will plan 
your lesson from the standpoint of those who need its 
help — the pupils. 

It is much easier to study the facts of a lesson than to 
learn how to teach it. The lesson is printed in black and 
white, and is before you, and you have helps and sug- 
gestions in your Quarterly or in your teachers' journal; 
but Johnnie and Susie are different every moment; what 
interested them last Sunday seems thoroughly tame to 
them today. They are alive, and this very aliveness 
places upon you, as their teacher, the obligation to know 
them and their interests and needs, while it also gives 
you the supreme opportunity to influence lives, to help 
change characters, to make living Christians. 

3. NEED OF Since your pupils are living and growing, it 
GRADING is evident that their interests and needs will 
change from year to year. When Charlie 
was eight he liked to learn verses and to color Bible 
pictures; but now, at fourteen, he thinks of heroes and 
warfare, and new forms of Sunday-school activity must 
be used to interest him. It is difficult, almost impossible, 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 65 

to teach a class in which are included both boys of six and 
boys of fourteen — they are entirely different in their 
development, activities, likes and dislikes. Moreover, 
boys and girls of fifteen cannot well be taught in the 
same class. Certain Sunday-school pupils can no more 
be mixed in one class than oil and water. Note the marked 
difference in each grade, suggested in the chart on the next 
page, and you will realize the impracticability of teaching 
ungraded Sunday-school classes. If your school is to 
belong to the pupils, and they are your chief concern, 
proper grading will be your first endeavor. This may 
mean breaking up some classes already formed, starting 
new classes, perhaps separating pupils from a teacher to 
whom they are accustomed and attached, but eventually 
the result will justify the action. (This subject is further 
treated on page 102.) 

4. GENERAL Every teacher should know four 
CHARACTERISTICS things about each pupil and 

should keep these in mind as he 
prepares to teach the Sunday-school lesson. A good 
teacher knows (1) the general characteristics of the grade 
he is teaching (study the chart on the next page), (2) the 
particular traits possessed by the individual pupils, (3) 
the every-day interests of each of these pupils, and (4) 
the home-life and moral environment by which each is 
surrounded. 

5. SPECIAL Unfortunately pupils cannot all be classified 
TRAITS and tagged according to rule. All girls of 

twelve will be alike in certain ways, which 
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every other. Susie is shy: be careful never to hurt her 
feelings by unkind criticism; Jennie is forward, always 
eager to talk: gently curb her ardor and prevent her from 
monopolizing the whole of the class period; Alice reads 
a great deal: suggest good books for her eager mind; 



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ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 67 

Lucy likes poetry: show her the beauty of the Bible; 
Maud giggles at everything: speak to her calmly. In the 
next class, Tom is the bully, always making trouble: 
make him secretary of the class, thus using his trait of 
aggressiveness; Arthur reads the sporting page in the 
paper: let him bring to class a modern example of a 
"training" like Daniel's; Charles has a "bent" for making 
things: perhaps he could make, for the class, a model of 
a Palestine house. So you can go on, finding different 
abilities, interests, and needs in each pupil; in trying to 
help your pupils, you will aim to develop the ability of 
each one, considering personal traits and meeting indi- 
vidual needs. 

6. OUTSIDE You are with your class only an hour a 

INTERESTS week; you can hardly expect to . under- 
stand your pupils very well unless you 
know their interests and activities during the rest of the 
week. Boys and girls do not put on special natures and 
characteristics for the session of the Sunday-school class; 
in spite of their "Sunday best" they are still human, 
lively, and fun-loving. 

1. School. First, therefore, you should know what 
interests them in school, which do good work, and which 
could be won to you, perhaps, by a little help on their 
arithmetic. The really effective teacher knows, usually 
from a personal visit to the schoolroom, or with the 
day-school teacher, just what the boys and girls are 
doing during the week. 

2. Play. Nor does the true teacher neglect the play 
interests of his pupils. You know that Robert has a 
postage-stamp collection, and you vivify Paul's missionary 
journeys for him by reference to his stamps from the 
countries through which Paul traveled. You are not afraid 
to play baseball on Saturday afternoon with your boys, 
for you remember that wholesome, clean recreation is a 



68 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

part of Christian living. A modem artist has painted 
Christ blessing little children, not in the conventional 
way, but smiling at a youngster kicking a football! You 
will help your girls in their play, not as teacher but as 
playmate, until some day one of your pupils may say, 
as did one in a small Sunday-school, " Honest, Miss S — 
just owns me." The real teacher knows the Monday 
pupil and the Saturday pupil, as well as the Sunday pupil. 
3. Home influence. The time your school influences 
its pupils amounts to about an hour a week; the influence 
of the home has eighty times as long to act each week. 
Do you know what is the home influence exerted upon 
each of your pupils? Do you know w^hich come from 
happy homes, where there are family prayers, where the 
Bible is a much-used book, and where unselfishness and love 
surround the child? Perhaps you have been saddened to 
learn of the home environment of that boy whose father 
is often drunk, whose home-life is a, mockery where oaths 
and anger abound. Can you expect to deal alike with 
pupils from such different homes? Two hours spent in 
visiting will often help a teacher more than five hours 
of study on the lesson. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What are the "general characteristics" of the pupils 
in your class (or the one you are observing)? 

2. Mention any indications that your school "belongs 
to the pupils" — that they are its aim. 

3. How could you improve the grading in your school? 

4. See how fully you can reproduce the chart, from 
memory. 

5. Make a list of your class (or of some class you 
know), indicating briefly the special traits and home in- 
fluence of each pupil. 



LESSON II 
How to Teach Primary Pupils 

There are no classes in the Sunday-school more impor- 
tant than those composed of the youngest pupils. In 
the early years of childhood deep impressions may be 
made, which will last throughout life. The pupils are 
eager and responsive, and often the teacher lets this very 
responsiveness excuse her from proper preparation and 
study of her pupils. Some added knowledge of the char- 
acteristics of these little Sunday-school pupils will greatly 
increase the effectiveness of the teacher. 

In some schools babies are enrolled at birth on the 
Cradle Roll. This is a most effective means of enlisting 
the interest of parents, and gives the child a direct rela- 
tion with the Sunday-school from his earliest day. The 
effectiveness of Cradle Roll work largely depends upon 
the special superintendent, who will secure the enrolment 
of each new baby, keep in touch with the parents, and 
show remembrance of the prospective pupil at birthdays 
and other appropriate times. 

Real attendance at Sunday-school usually begins in 
the fourth or fifth year. From four to eight a child may 
be enrolled in the Primary Department. Some large, 
fully-organized, and well-equipped Sunday-schools have a 
Beginners' class for pupils of four and five, but usually 
all from four to eight may be enrolled in one Primary 
Department. This can be divided into various classes, 
so that the teacher of " eight-year-olds" will not teach 
them as she did when they were four; yet their physical, 
mental, and spiritual characteristics are still much the 
same. 



70 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

1. BODILY This is the age of greatest physical growth. 
GROWTH Children grow "like weeds" between four 

and nine, and last year's clothes are 
quickly outgrown. During this period the increase in 
height is nearly twenty per cent.; in weight, forty per cent. 
This makes restlessness inevitable. " Sitting still" is 
agony for the average child at this age. Doing nothing 
is more tiring than being active, or, as one youngster 
put it, " Mother, I'm all tired out not playing." The 
parent or teacher will recognize this passion for activity 
and strive to direct it rightly. When Sunday-school is 
held in the morning, Sunday afternoon may be spent 
in a walk, calling the children's attention to growing 
things, or talking on worth-while subjects, rather than 
by " trying to keep John quiet by paying him a cent for 
every ten flies he may catch." The play of children of 
this age is vigorous, usually spontaneous, without rules, 
generally imitative. Much can be done to make this 
imitative play an aid instead of an obstacle to forming 
right habits. Each child plays for himself; he wants to 
outdo the others; there is no team play. Right direction 
may use this individual competitive spirit for good. Sex 
differences are unknown; boys and girls play and study 
together without restraint. Obedience should be required, 
but at this age direction of energy is wiser than repression. 

2. MENTAL The imagination awakens during these 
GROWTH years; " make-believe" is an oft-used 

word. Every story is vividly seen by the 
child; every incident becomes personal and local. The 
writer always believed a near-by sycamore tree was the 
one actually used by Zacchseus. The "lies" of children 
may be frequently explained because of this trait; children 
really believe they see the impossible things they report. 
The skilled teacher will use material which the child can 
vividly picture and make his own. The Bible abounds in 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 71 

such stories; those of Christ use the imagination marvel- 
ously. 

This is the curious age; "why?" is always ready. The 
senses are developing, and the child wants to know 
reasons. God has given him this passion for knowledge, 
and no lover of childhood will abuse it by refusing to 
answer honest questions, or by giving misleading answers; 
many tragedies have come from ill-gained information. 

Imitation is wide-awake; the youngster does what he 
sees father do, and uses the words he hears from brother 
John. When the action imitated is a good one, the result 
makes for right character building; when it is otherwise, 
bad habits, due to others, begin thus early. 

Interest in school-work develops, and the young child 
is usually keenly interested in his schoolroom activities. 
Father, mother, and Sunday-school will do well to keep 
informed on what these activities are. 

The mind is too young to grasp very many new truths. 
Repetition is the rule for mental work at this age; drill 
on the facts, repeat the Golden Texts, and tell the same 
stories over again. Be careful to use language wl^ich a 
child can understand; let it all be in terms of his experi- 
ence, avoiding figurative language. The child who inter- 
preted the verse, "The Lord desireth truth in the inward 
parts," to mean that if we told lies we got rust in our 
stomachs, was not to blame for so understanding; nor 
was the child who reported that "everyone was at Sunday- 
school except Jesus. He was 'calling tod^y'; we sang a 
song about it." Everything has a literal meaning for the 
all-believing child. 

3. SPIRITUAL The child is unmoral — neither moral nor 
GROWTH immoral; his moral nature is just develop- 
ing. We must not demand too much of 
it, nor dare we leave it untouched. The child must form 
right habits, those which will help him throughout life. 



72 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

Too often we forget that good habits stick as tightly as bad 
ones. Someone has said: " Habit always sticks by you; 
take the 'h' away, and you have 'a bit' left; take off the 
'a/ and a 'bit' is still there; take the V away, and 'it' 
remains." The child's moral nature will consist largely 
of habits formed, attitudes imitated, and facts learned. 
The Sunday-school teacher who frowns at her class of 
Primary pupils will probably train them to frown. The 
boy at this age will spend more time watching what his 
teacher or father is and does, than he will in listening 
to what he says. A Primary pupil revised the famous 
quotation from Emerson when he gave it: "What you 
are hollers so loud, I don't take no shucks in what you 
say." So the spiritual growth of the child will largely 
come by imitating the acts of those around him. Habits 
of obedience, co-operation, unselfishness, and industry 
may be formed. Habits of prayer, Bible reading, and 
church attendance may be aided. The spiritual growth 
of the young child will show itself largely at home and in 
the school, by faithful attention to his duties and uncom- 
plaining service for his family and mates. 

The child's faith is strong; he believes all he reads, and 
all you tell him. Be careful not to violate this childlike 
faith and trust. The mother who first taught her child 
that Santa Claus was an actual person who lived at the 
North Pole and, when the child was older, explained to 
him that the story was a myth, had her just reward when 
her boy asked, " Mother, is Jesus a myth, too?" Never 
tell a trusting child anything, especially about the spiritual 
life, that is not absolutely true. 

4. SUNDAY-SCHOOL If possible, pupils of this age 

INTERESTS should have a separate room, and 

a special superintendent. Their 

physical restlessness makes marching songs and motion 

exercises desirable in their opening exercises, which are 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 73 

better separate from those of the larger school. Boys and 
girls may be in the same class (at least until six or seven 
years old), and taught by a woman teacher, preferably 
one who is a mother. The blackboard or drawing-board 
may well be used, only be careful to see that the truth 
behind the pictures is fixed in the mind. The teacher must 
realize that she is a living example to her imitative pupils. 
She can definitely help them to form habits of promptness, 
of obedience, of reverence, of learning the Golden Texts 
and other Scripture verses, of singing and giving. Look 
out, however, lest an undue emphasis on the penny makes 
them penny-givers for life. Too many grown-ups still 
give much as they did when Primary pupils. 

In the teaching, stories of action, enlisting the pupils' 
imagination, should be told; the Old Testament is an 
inexhaustible storehouse of such stories. Inanimate 
qualities and virtues may be personified to impress them 
on the youthful minds; the intense "my" and "mine" of 
childhood may be used for instead of against, the lesson's 
effectiveness, by having each child color his own picture, 
print his own text, or learn his own verses. 

The skilled teacher may often provide relaxation for 
the muscles of Primary pupils without diverting their 
thoughts from the subject of the hour. If the story is of 
Joshua or other soldiers, suggest, "Let us stand, straight 
and tall, like soldiers, and keep step, without moving 
from our places." Or, when some nature story is being 
told, "Let your fingers move like the falling leaves or 
the flying birds." 

The good teacher will realize that the methods used 
with Primary pupils will largely influence their future 
interest and progress in the Sunday-school. Above all, 
realize that even the very young children may be gently 
led to a real desire to please the Saviour who loves them. 

Into a certain home came twin girls. One was serious, 
orderly, observing, apt, imitative; the other happy-go- 



74 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

lucky, careless, irresponsible. These traits were evident 
almost from the time the children began to walk and talk. 
The parents realized that their problem was to soften 
the first little life so that it did not become a machine, 
and to stiffen the second to feel responsibility. The wise 
Christian mother, holding before each little girl what 
Jesus would like her to be, finds them now at seven each 
developing a sweet and strong and well-rounded character. 
Individual traits remain, but the will to do right and to 
please Jesus is steadily becoming the shaping influence. 
This is the great opportunity of all who deal with life at 
its fresh springs. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How can the Sunday-school teacher utilize Primary 
pupils' imaginations? 

2. Describe the ideal Primary teacher. 

3. What indications of spiritual growth have you noted 
in Primary pupils? 

4. What are the mental characteristics of Primary 
pupils? 

5. What helpful habits may Primary pupils form in 
Sunday-school? What harmful habits? 

6. What desire should we lead Primary children to 
realize? 



LESSON III 

How to Teach Juniors 

1. LOVE OF The years between nine and twelve are 
READING unique; the growth of childhood has been 
largely accomplished, but the traits of 
youth have not yet appeared. Perhaps the most con- 
spicuous difference between the Primary and the Junior 
pupil is that the latter has now learned to read, and 
often developed a passion for it. The Junior has the store- 
house of the written world, and is apt to seize its treasures 
as eagerly as he formerly seized those of the outside 
material world. This period is marked by a large increase 
in the size of the brain. The boy or girl needs friendly 
counsel about the way this newly developed power is to 
be used. 

It is not worth while, if it were desirable, to recommend 
such books as filled the shelves of Sunday-school libraries 
a generation ago; the normal boy or girl of today will 
not read "goody-goody" stories, and, furthermore, may 
take a dislike to the Sunday-school that circulates such 
literature. The modern Sunday-school library may well 
concern itself chiefly with providing good books for 
younger children and helps for teachers, while co-operating 
with the town library in directing the reading of older 
boys and girls. The teacher of Juniors can do a definite 
service by personally seeing that wholesome and interest- 
ing books are within reach of each eager young reader, 
and, as opportunity offers, by suggesting the most at- 
tractive books. Have you ever had any pupil report in 
class on some book recently read? Try it some time. 
Both you and the class will learn from the experience. 



76 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

2. THE " GANG" The boy of seven plays ball for him- 
AND CLUBS self alone; he tries hard to get " first 

bat" and outshine all the others. Five 
years later this same youngster plays on a team, teases 
mother or sister to make him a uniform with the name of 
the nine blazoned across his chest, and is content to make 
a sacrifice hit — anything to advance his team's score. 
The twelve-year-old has merged his self-centeredness with 
the "gang" or crowd. Every normal boy or girl "goes 
with" other boys or girls; the boys may form clubs for 
sports, and perhaps, mischief; the girls may join together 
in social groups. There is little basis for these associations, 
mere nearness of homes frequently, but none the less they 
are a great factor in the lives of children at this age. It 
is a sign of the developing social consciousness, which is 
wholly lacking in younger children and which, when 
fully matured, makes one interested in the welfare of the 
whole world. Make his Sunday-school class the boy's 
"gang," to which he devotes his loyal interest, and you 
have done much to win him. A baseball nine connected 
with the class or the department and wisely supervised by 
the teacher who realizes the opportunity it affords, may 
not only hold the boy's interest but greatly affect his 
development. 

3. HERO- These two Junior traits — love of reading, 
WORSHIP and association with one's fellows — lead 

almost always to an intense spirit of hero- 
worship. The boy longs to be as deadly a shot as Dia- 
mond Dick, or as brave as some other hero; the girl 
thinks so-and-so "just lovely," "too sweet," and copies 
her gestures, clothes, and attitudes. It is almost safe to 
say that there are no normal children in this period with- 
out some hero or heroine, someone whom they strive to 
copy. Such person may be a character in a book, or the 
biggest athlete, or the best dressed, most "society" 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 77 

lady in town; or perhaps a "chum," a fellow-member 
of the "gang" or "set," somewhat older, whose every 
word and deed seems perfect, and who becomes at once a 
model for the worshiper. 

4. SEXES Boys and girls of this age quickly draw apart. 
APART The boy teases the girl, calls her interests and 

activities "sissy," while the girl finds her 
former playmate rude and horrid. The great sex line is 
beginning to be drawn, and those w r ho are striving to 
help and befriend young people will always recognize it. 
Boys and girls now play apart, the boy with his bat and 
the girl with her dolls, and each is contemptuous of the 
other's games. Even "mixed" social gatherings during 
these years are not usually successful. The girl is apt to be 
more advanced than the boy of the same age; she does 
better in her studies; her finer senses and feelings are 
beyond the boy's. Both boy and girl are laying up re- 
served strength for approaching adolescence, which has 
already given them a feeling of disregard for the other sex. 

5. MORAL The Junior's moral nature develops 
AWAKENING along three lines: habits, loyalty, and 

service. These are the years when most 
of life's habits are formed; lives are most impressionable, 
and habits now acquired become permanent. Many 
parents, unconsciously, now help their children to form 
habits of disobedience, discourtesy, slovenliness, selfish- 
ness, and even profanity. The wise parent and the skilful 
teacher, however, can start in Juniors habits w T hich will 
shape noble characters. Loyalty to one's companions is 
an outstanding characteristic of this age. No one is more 
despised than the "tattle-tale." This spirit will be later 
transferred to broader, nobler objects — home, country, 
church. The friend of Juniors w T ill be loyal to them, and 
show faith in them, never doubting their word or abusing 
their confidence. 



78 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

The virtues of the Junior are always active ones; now 
is the time to enlist him in actual deeds of service. If his 
good impulses are not translated into action — even if it 
is only finding grandma's glasses — moral stagnation will 
result. No teacher will overlook the necessity, during 
these four important years of life, of expressional activity, 
rightly placed loyalty, and habit formation. 

6. IN THE 1. Have separate classes for boys 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL and girls; select a teacher if pos- 
sible from the same sex, about 
ten or fifteen years older, who has the ability to be the 
friend and "'chum" of the pupils. Efficiency, however, is 
the first consideration. Better a good woman teacher 
for boys than an inefficient man teacher. 

2. Plan for activity on the part of the pupils; let them 
do something, even if it is only looking up references or 
passing out hymn books. Do not talk at them, and talk 
less with them than you do with them. Plan for Sunday- 
school notebooks, scrapbooks, reports, map-drawing, 
model-making, etc. Strive also to secure service 
activity, such as calling on the sick or aged people, 
giving Thanksgiving dinners to the poor, etc. 

3. In your teaching lay stress on fact and action, rather 
than on belief and theory. The Junior wants to know of 
"things doing." Picture Christ as the active man of 
affairs, using for this grade Mark's story of him rather 
than John's. Show the present value and meaning of 
these truths; the Junior lives in today, not tomorrow or 
yesterday. 

4. Promote memorizing; not the Golden Texts and 
memory verses merely, but such fine passages as specially 
appeal to boys and girls at this age; for example, the 
24th and 121st Psalms, Paul's address on Mars Hill, 
Ephesians 6:10-20, 2 Timothy 4:5-8, etc. Encourage 
also the committing of passages from good prose and 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 79 

poetry outside of the Bible, bearing upon the subject of 
the lesson. Have these repeated in class. In marking the 
roll often have each respond by repeating a favorite verse. 

5. Try to be a hero to your class. Do not tell them 
such is your desire, but try to make them want to imitate 
you — and be sure you are worth imitating. Above all else, 
try to show them the heroic characteristics of Christ. 

6. Strive for definite concrete results. Now is the time 
to induce the more mature and thoughtful of your boys 
and girls, if they have not already done so, publicly to 
accept Christ as their personal leader and Saviour. 

QUESTIONS 

1. In what ways can you personally become more of a 
hero or model to a Sunday-school class? 

2. Interest yourself in a class of Juniors; ask permission 
to visit it; report on any admirable features you observe 
in its work and teaching; also on what seems to you to be 
lacking. 

3. If you were a teacher of Junior boys, how would 
you teach them a lesson on temperance? 

4. What do you consider the three most important 
characteristics of children from nine to twelve? 

5. What is your school doing to give its Juniors good 
reading? 



LESSON IV 

How to Teach Intermediate Pupils 

The early teen age, from thirteen to 

1. ADOLESCENCE sixteen, is the most crucial age in 

youth; the Germans rightly call it the 
" storm and stress" period. It is a "new birth"; the first 
signs, of manhood and womanhood appear in the child 
who cannot understand them, and who, unless wisely 
counseled, may misuse them. It is an age of rapid 
growth, and much must be forgiven the boy or girl whose 
energies are being drained by bodily development. 

Some of the Junior traits continue, but are modified; 
the hero-worship spirit now values the inner qualities of 
the hero more than the superficial, external ones. The 
"gang" spirit, still intense, may yet permit an interest 
in a larger group, the whole school, or the town. The 
need of exercise and activity during this period is marked; 
the boy must have some "safety valve" to let off the super- 
fluous energy; he will slam doors and yell in a fashion that 
chagrins his mother; he will steal apples or birds' eggs if 
the wise parent or friend does not provide better channels 
for his activity. The Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls 
furnish splendid opportunities in this difficult age; they 
provide wholesome exercise, and develop self-reliance and 
a spirit of service. 

2. THE SEX The chief characteristic of these years is the 
INSTINCT awakening of sex, new powers springing up 

within, with new interest in the opposite 
sex. Every child has, as a birthright, a claim to true, pure 
information about matters of sex. The Sunday-school is 
not the place for such presentation; it should be given 
by the parents at home. If they fail in their duty, the 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 81 

teacher may, personally and individually, give needed 
information; it is only the exceptionally gifted teacher, 
however, who can verbally present this matter to a 
whole class in a helpful way. Much good can be done 
by having each member of a class of boys read such a 
book as Hall's " From Youth into Manhood/' or of a class 
of girls, Howard's " Confidential Chats with Girls." 

The sex impulse show r s itself in many ways, often 
to the discomfort of the individual boy or girl. The boy 
is self-conscious; he does not know where to put his hands 
or feet; his voice, as it changes, often breaks; he is fre- 
quently unjustly and unwisely teased for his new but 
perfectly natural interest in the girls; his humor is bois- 
terous and sometimes rude; he is almost pugilistic in his 
assertiveness; and his speech abounds in slang. The girl 
has difficulty in controlling her emotions; one moment all 
is bright and sunny, the next, clouds have covered the 
horizon; she longs for prettier — often " louder" — clothes; 
her speech is crammed with superlatives — "the sweetest 
thing," "too pretty for anything," "I'm dying to try it"; 
she is apt to giggle incessantly, and at nothing at all; 
she blushes at any undue attention or publicity; she 
easily overtaxes her strength, and finds it hard to be 
moderate. Assuredly the boy and girl at this age need 
our w r arm sympathy, our friendly comradeship. There 
are few more tragic things in life than to see the way 
budding manhood and womanhood is teased, laughed at, 
and denied proper knowledge, so that the sex feeling, 
which lies at the basis of love, altruism and self-sacrifice, 
too often becomes distorted into evil and sensual forms. 

The adolescent pupil cannot be controlled 
3. CONTROL as was the Junior. There is usually a 

revulsion against orders and the demand 
for obedience. This revolt against authority often makes 
boys decide to run away, and leads girls to make friends 



82 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

with those who " understand them," but who, alas, too 
often understand them only to harm them. Many pupils 
leave school at this age; if the Sunday-school lacks interest 
and is badly taught, they are apt to leave it also. They 
want to do and to be something themselves, even if it 
consists only in " getting a job." They are secretive, the 
frankness of childhood has gone, and caves or attics are 
popular gathering-places. The passion for excitement is 
intense, and they "go with the crowd," usually to worth- 
less, sometimes harmful, amusements. At no period in 
life is there greater need of a real friend, who will not pry 
into secrets, but who knows how to make himself or herself 
"one of the crowd." 

4. MENTAL The Junior accepted the teacher's 

DEVELOPMENT "word for it"; the Intermediate 
pupil wants to know the reasons, 
wants to go behind the fact; a critical, calculating, inves- 
tigating spirit has developed. If frankness and informa- 
tion are denied, dislike w r ill result. The mind is "yeasty," 
developing, bubbling, and needs much activity. The 
adolescent pupil "knows it all," and is inclined to argue 
and debate all questions. If the teacher is not square and 
honest with him, his inquisitive trend of mind may provoke 
the beginnings of religious doubt. The love of the beauti- 
ful is making its appearance, especially in the girls, and the 
teacher will develop this by the aid of pictures, poetry, 
and, if possible, music. 

Even more than in the Junior period boys and girls 
now need wise guidance as to the books they read. 
Too often the boy becomes attached to the worthless 
and harmful "ten-centers," or "nickel magazines." 
The wise father, teacher, or friend can turn this appe- 
tite for thrillers to stories about Grenfell, Livingstone, 
Paton, "Chinese" Gordon and other real, inspiring, and 
ennobling doers of stirring deeds. The girl, undirected, 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 83 

may absorb false ideas from cheap romantic stories, when 
with friendly direction, she might be enjoying and profiting 
from her first acquaintance with the great romances of 
literature — such as Shakespeare's plays and Tennyson's 
"Idylls of the King" — or wholesome stories like "Little 
Women" or "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm." 

5. SUNDAY-SCHOOL More pupils drop out of Sunday- 
ACTIVITIES school during this period than any 

other, and fewer enter. The reasons 
undoubtedly are found in the peculiar needs of adolescent 
pupils, and the frequent inability of the teacher to meet 
them. The school does well to use its most skilled teachers 
for this grade. The teacher should have the great gift of 
sympathy, of realizing the inner feelings of the pupils, of 
"understanding," when others seem to overlook or tease 
these sensitive young souls. Boys and girls of this age are 
frequently lonely and misunderstood; even more than 
teachers or guides they need friends, real " chums." These 
they are ready to make among those somewhat older than 
themselves. Companies of Boy Scouts and Camp Fire 
Girls succeed in proportion to the ability of their leaders to 
meet this natural desire. Members of organized Adult 
classes should be brought into such friendly relations with 
members of boys' and girls' classes. Sympathy, tact, and 
common-sense should make of every teacher of teen-age 
pupils a real friend. For suggestions as to teaching and 
conducting classes for this grade consult Forbush's 
"Church Work with Boys," or Slattery's "The Girl in 
Her Teens." 

The teacher should aim to cultivate in his pupils a 
feeling of responsibility, a power of decision, and a definite 
relationship to the church and other altruistic organiza- 
tions. Young people in this period like to "do things" — 
make them feel a responsibility for bringing in new pupils, 
calling on the absent, helping with younger classes, keep- 



84 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

ing record-books complete, etc. The tendency in these 
years is to dream of great deeds and neglect little duties; 
show the insufficiency of such irresponsibility. These 
years also are marked by clear instances of choice between 
right and wrong, by definite experiences of real sin. Ac- 
tions before have largely been intuitive and unthinking; 
now the pupil must decide. Impress upon your pupils the 
necessity for making right choices now; later may be too 
late. They should decide how much and what kind of 
education they will strive for, what they will try to 
become in the world, with what books they will satisfy 
their taste for reading, and what they will try to do to 
make this world happier for others. In encouraging 
them to seek higher education, in directing their minds 
toward the more noble and altruistic life-callings, the 
teacher has a rare opportunity. 

Above all other decisions, help them, through friendly 
suggestions and loving persuasion, to make the greatest 
of all life's decisions, the decision to become a Christian. 
For a Christian is one who, with Christ's help, habitually 
decides in favor of the higher and against the lower. 
Definite relationship to the church should begin in these 
years. Such statistics as are available show that thirteen 
and sixteen are the "high water' ' years for joining the 
church, and from this grade on the probability of conver- 
sion rapidly diminishes. 

In your teaching consider these suggestions, all of which 
are the outcome of experience: 

1. Organize your class; have elected 

6. SUGGESTIONS officers and a program of activities. 

Hold additional meetings outside of 

the Sunday-school, perhaps in the home of the teacher. 

Do something as a class. 

2. In your teaching be honest and frank. If you do not 
know, say so, and then try to find out. Help your pupils 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 85 

to meet the questions that trouble them. Lay stress on 
religious activity, on what Christianity has done and 
what it is doing today. 

3. Strive for activity on the part of each member of your 
class. Truth, in this age, needs to be personally acquired 
by the pupils. Promote class debates, discussions of prob- 
lems of right and wrong. Usually the less talking you do 
yourself, the better will be your teaching. 

4. Become acquainted with the parents of your pupils. 
At no period is close co-operation between home and Sun- 
day-school more needed. Find out about the pupils' home- 
life. Invite the parents to a special session of your class. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How are your Intermediate classes utilizing the 
bubbling energies of their pupils? 

2. How would you answer a pupil who doubts the story 
of Creation? 

3. Looking back over your experience in these impor- 
tant years, suggest ways in which your Sunday-school 
teacher could have more deeply influenced you. 

4. Name five problems of adolescence, and suggest, for 
each, one method of meeting it in the Sunday-school. 



LESSON V 

How to Teach Seniors 

1. CONTACT WITH The later years of adolescence bring 
REALITY a maturity which puts young 

people, usually for the first time, 
into direct contact with the sterner realities of life. 
Hitherto they have usually been care-free and protected, 
shielded from the world. Now they come face to face with 
life's problems and must meet them alone, often unaided. 
Home-ties no longer hold; they must usually earn their 
own living; they see, perhaps for the first time, the evils of 
life, and their reaction to this sudden awakening largely 
determines their characters for after-life. The earlier years 
of the adolescent period are crowded with day dreams — 
of romances, successes, triumphs; from seventeen on comes 
a period of disillusionment, and in place of a " castle in 
Spain' ' the young man or young woman is apt to find 
only a monotonous round of commonplace duties. For 
the majority, education, which has been protective against 
life's more sordid realities, is now over (much less than 
one per cent, of young people between seventeen and 
twenty are in college), and each begins to wage his own 
battle and make his own terms with life. 

The result may be disastrous; the "wild oats" of youth 
may be sown, crime may allure (more crime is committed 
in this period than in any other), the great anchorages for 
which home influence stands — honor, purity, religion — 
may lose their hold, and the young life drift away from the 
church and the Sunday-school. But the result of this first 
contact with reality may also be victory; a new vision of 
one's place in the world, a new realization of need and 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 87 

opportunity, a new consecration to Christian service. The 
Sunday-school teacher may be an important factor in win- 
ning victory, instead of experiencing defeat, from this 
testing time of life's awakening. 

2. BROADER The last three years of the teen period bring 
OUTLOOK to the boy or girl new interests, a broadening 

of the horizon. Home becomes more than 
"a place to live in," and the young man and the young 
woman think of a future home of their own and the love 
upon which it will be founded. The word " country" takes 
on a new meaning; the newspaper begins to contain some- 
thing besides sporting news and the fashions; a new patriot- 
ism is experienced in advance of the noisy Fourth-of-July 
variety of earlier years. The church is now more than a 
building, or a group of people; it is a great institution, 
which adds to a wonderful past a present challenge and 
appeal. Foreign missions assume a more real aspect and 
the reasons for our share in this movement are first 
realized. The individual " finds himself" in duties done 
— in helping with the expenses of the home, in preparing 
to become a citizen, in doing a larger share of the work 
of the church and Sunday-school. 

The religious life of the youth or 

3. INDIVIDUALITY maiden commands the deepest inter- 

est of the teacher and pastor. Each 
pupil is now an individual, occupying his own place in 
society, with an individual's needs. More than ever now 
the teacher cannot think of the class as a whole; each 
individual pupil must be considered. Too often young 
people have dropped out of church or Sunday-school 
because of the impersonal treatment they have received — 
young people who might have been won by a genuine 
expression of personal interest in their individual welfare. 
The teacher must keep in touch with the studies, the work, 



88 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

the social and athletic interests, the future ambitions of 
each pupil. Definite assignment of responsibility, too, 
must make each one feel that his or her place in the school 
is an important and useful one. 

4. RELIGIOUS Religiously, this period presents two 
NEEDS problems; the need of conserving the 

religious spirit, and the meeting of honest 
doubt. Until fifteen the religion of boys and girls is largely 
influenced by contact; up to this point, in religion, as in 
everything else, they are imitators. In later adolescence, 
however, we "put away childish things," and there is a 
great danger that, as the childish forms are outgrown, the 
spirit behind them may be allowed to die. " Now I lay me 
down to sleep" is a good prayer for childhood, but the 
youth needs another sort of prayer; the realization that 
he has outgrown the form of the prayer, may, mistakenly, 
make him think that he has outgrown the need of prayer 
also. We need to devote our energies, with tact and 
sympathy, to the spiritual conservation of young people 
even more than we do to the conservation of our natural 
resources. A human soul is worth more than ten thousand 
feet of lumber. That the religious spirit may not die out, 
give it something to do, some service to perform. 

In this period of awakening and individualism often 
comes the first feeling of doubt. " Authority" is no longer 
unthinkingly accepted, and the faith of the mother may be 
questioned by the son. In this day of scientific investigation, 
with our popular magazines often featuring articles which 
attack accepted beliefs, and with many Socialists denounc- 
ing the Church as an institution of the selfish rich, honest 
doubts may naturally be expected. They should be met 
fairly and frankly by pastor, teacher, or friend. A personal 
conversation will do far more good than public explanation 
and defenses of articles of faith. It is imperative that the 
questionings of an honest mind be met. Statistics indi- 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 89 

cate that five-sixths of all conversions occur before the 
age of twenty. A wise friend during these developing 
years may render service of untold value in giving life its 
true direction. 

5. IN THE 1. Organize the class. Have offi- 

SUND AY-SCHOOL cers, committees (Membership, So- 
cial, Devotional) and a definite pro- 
gram of work. Secure information about the Baraca and 
Agoga class schemes for young men, and the Philathea and 
Amoma for young women. It is much better, though not 
absolutely essential, to divide the sexes in the Senior 
Department. When feasible, have separate class-rooms, 
perhaps in the parsonage or some near-by home. 

2. For teacher, secure someone whose character cer- 
tainly, and position also if possible, will carry weight. 
Even biblical knowledge, however desirable, is not so 
essential here as strong Christian character. The class 
hour should be a conversation, a frank give-and-take of 
opinion, with every pupil respecting the views of every 
other one. The teacher should write to or call upon those 
ill or absent, and take a sincere personal interest in every 
member. 

3. Strive for some active participation by each member 
of the class at each session. Consider the use of notebooks; 
of map-drawing by individuals; of outlining the reign of 
a king, or a period of Jesus' ministry, or an evangelistic 
journey of Paul; and other such definite assignments. 
Give one and then another a topic to be reported on next 
week. Select some good wholesome book; have each 
member read it; then spend part of one session in dis- 
cussing it. 

4. Use the class organization during the week. Provide 
ushers for the Sunday evening meeting, a quartette to 
sing to the "shut-ins." In towns train some of the young 
men in visiting the jail, the young women in visiting the 



90 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

sick in homes or hospitals. Promote socials, given by the 
class to other classes or to the whole school. Plan a debate 
on a public question, and invite guests. Have a class 
supper, with a speaker of note; take charge of the sports 
at the annual picnic; " clean up" the surroundings and 
moral atmosphere of the country fair; tackle some local 
need for which youthful interest and energy are required. 

5. Do not insult the class by giving them childish mate- 
rial. Take up topics that will make them think, perhaps 
at times even using some special course apart from the 
regular Sunday-school lesson. Never, though, lose sight of 
the relation of the Seniors to the school; one of the best and 
more recent plans is to follow as your regular lessons a 
teacher-training course, so that the Senior Department 
or class becomes the recruiting-ground for teachers for 
the school. 

QXJESTIO NS 

1. Is your school developing the spiritual energies of its 
Seniors by putting them to work? If not, how could it 
do so? 

2. How many of your pupils continue through the 
Senior Department? Why do some drop out? 

3. Name some religious doubts that come to Seniors; 
tell how you would meet them. 

4. If your Senior Department has no organized classes, 
state the difficulties that seem to be in the way. How 
could these be overcome? 

5. Does your Sunday-school do anything for the physical 
needs of its pupils? Could it do so? 



LESSON VI 

The Organized Class 

In obedience to the Master's command to 
1. ADULTS make disciples of all men, it behooves each 
Sunday-school to use every available means 
to advance the Kingdom of God upon earth. No other 
movement has helped more during recent years to build 
up the Sunday-school and to win men and women for 
Christ than the Organized Adult Bible Class. 

1. Advantages. The following are only a few of the ad- 
vantages derived from the organized Adult class : 

(1.) It helps to solve the "teen-age" problem. The great 
loss in Sunday-school membership has been in the Inter- 
mediate grade. How to hold the adolescent boy and girl 
is a problem for which the Sunday-school is now seriously 
seeking a solution. In the past the Sunday-school was 
usually regarded as a place for children only. When the 
children reached the Intermediate or early Senior grades 
they drifted away — very often not only from the Sunday- 
school, but also from every form of Christian study and 
worship. A very large part of the activities of the church 
was expended in trying to reclaim those who never should 
have been lost. With the organization of the Adult class 
this loss has been greatly lessened. Where such classes 
are in effective operation, father and mother have a special 
place in the school, and when they attend the school the 
problem of keeping the boys and girls there has been 
largely solved, for the church school has then become a 
school for the whole family. 



92 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

(2.) It improves Sunday-school order. Especially is 
this true in the smaller schools where all departments 
above the Primary meet together for the opening service. 
Parents are then present to see how their children behave. 
Moreover, the example set by the adults influences the 
conduct of the children. 

(3.) The organized class increases Sunday-school mem- 
bership and attendance. During 1915, for example, an 
addition of 40,000 was reported in the enrolment of the 
Sunday-schools of Philadelphia, and three-quarters of this 
increase consisted of men. Similar gains are reported 
from other sections, both city and rural, where organized 
Adult Bible class work has been vigorously prosecuted. 

(4.) The organization of the class increases class interest 
by securing class co-operation. In an unorganized class the 
superintendent or teacher is usually held responsible for 
all plans and methods, and consequently not much interest 
is taken by the individual members; but when a class is 
organized, with officers and committees installed and 
acting, the responsibility rests upon them, with the result 
that deeper interest is awakened in the members. Older 
folks, as well as children, need to have a personal part in 
any movement which seeks their interest and co-operation. 

(5.) It adds to the school a force for righteousness which 
cannot be calculated in figures. It quickens and vitalizes 
the school. It makes the school an instrument for good 
in the neighborhood such as it never could become while 
merely a children's organization. 

2. Methods. The method of organization may be very 
simple or as elaborate as desired. In most schools there 
is already at least one Adult class large enough to be 
organized, or one whose membership may be readily in- 
creased until a sufficient enrolment is secured to justify 
organization. Before any steps are taken to organize a 
class, its members should understand the nature and 
purposes of the organization. A premature attempt to 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 93 

organize may result in failure. Send an invitation to every 
member of the class to be present on a specified Sunday 
for a particular purpose. Follow this with a personal 
call upon any who are only lukewarm. When they have 
assembled explain fully the advantages of organization as 
here already stated. Then arrange for an evening meeting 
in some home or in the church or other meeting-place of 
the school, and ask each one present to bring at least one 
more to this meeting. If practicable, have some speaker 
who has had experience in organized Bible-class work 
make an address. Have a definite plan of organization 
ready, and be prepared to propose capable persons for 
temporary officers. 

A campaign for charter members should now be con- 
ducted, as many will appreciate being invited to join in 
forming the organization. Fix upon a date for closing the 
enrolment of charter members, others thereafter to be 
admitted by vote of the class. In canvassing for charter 
members, those who already belong may be divided into 
competing teams for the purpose. Hold a charter member 
and permanent organization social. 

The International Sunday-School Association has 
adopted the following requirements for a recognized 
Organized Adult Bible Class: 

(1.) The class shall be definitely connected with some 
Sunday-school. 

(2.) The class shall have the following officers: teacher, 
president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer. It shall have 
at least three standing committees as follows: membership, 
devotional-missionary, social. 

(3.) The class shall consist of members who are twenty 
years of age or over. 

An organized class may consist either of men alone, of 
women alone, or of both men and women. To organize 
separately promotes freer discussion, especially of subjects 
that more closely apply to one sex than to the other, and 



94 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

the centering of effort upon such community interests as 
appeal more strongly to men on the one hand, to women 
on the other. There are many situations, however, 
especially in the country, in which a mixed class may 
succeed better, for the time at least, than separate men's 
and women's classes. 

A class name, motto, pin, emblem, and colors may be 
selected. The following names and mottoes are offered 
as suggestions: Names — The Friendly Class, The Wel- 
come Bible Class, Overcomers, Volunteers, The Good Will 
Class, The Good Cheer Class, Gideon's Band. Mottoes — 
."If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another," 
I John 4:11; "Good will toward men," Luke 2 : 14; 
"Search the Scriptures," John 5:39; "Thy word is 
truth," John 17 : 17; "Prove all things," 1 Thess. 5:21; 
"Abstain from all appearance of evil," 1 Thess. 5:22; 
"Study to show thyself approved unto God," 2 Tim. 
2: 15; "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," Rom. 
1:16. It would be well, also, to use the red and white pin 
adopted by the International Sunday-School Association. 

3. The adult-class teacher. The teacher should be the 
real leader of the class. Especially should he lead and 
direct the lesson study and discussion. Except when 
made necessary by a very large class, the lecture method 
of teaching should not be used. 

The following are a few of the more common errors 
made by teachers of Adult classes: lack of preparation; 
no lesson plan; loss of time in beginning the lesson; 
emphasis upon the truths that appeal to the teacher 
rather than upon those which the class needs; lengthy 
discussions, especially on topics that lead away from the 
lesson; asking questions of a few persons exclusively; 
allowing one or two to assume the right of making final 
decisions on all questions discussed; a tendency to criticize 
and to condemn all who disagree; riding a hobby; long- 
windedness; lengthy exhortations. 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 95 

The teacher of Adults should keep in mind that service 
is the keynote of maturity, and that his task is not merely 
to furnish information, or even to deepen spirituality, 
but to impart principles which will control conduct and 
incentives that will direct action. 

4. Activities. The class is now ready for definite work. 
The object uppermost in the minds and hearts of those form- 
ing this organization should be the advancement of Christ's 
Kingdom, and all the activities of the class should have this 
end in view. The officers and members of the different com- 
mittees should at once begin their duties, seeking new 
members, reclaiming the indifferent, interesting the uninter- 
ested, supporting missionary work, endeavoring to secure 
earnest study of God's Word, and striving in every way 
to develop and deepen the spiritual life of every member — 
always winning, never arguing, remembering at all times 
that such results as these come only by prayer and its 
accompanying efforts. The leaders of the class especially 
should be in intimate communion with their Heavenly 
Father. 

The activities of the class will depend largely upon its 
environment, for the class should undertake such Christian 
service as its community needs. Visit new families and 
invite them to church and Sunday-school; visit the sick 
and render any needed service to them; help the unfor- 
tunate; act as big brothers to wayward boys; promote 
Sabbath observance; increase temperance sentiment; 
encourage missionary interest; conduct a class Home 
Department for members who cannot attend the regular 
sessions; hold open-air meetings; hold neighborhood 
meetings in outlying districts; unite in a prayer league; 
assist the superintendent in securing the regular atten- 
dance of Intermediate and Senior scholars; organize a 
Pocket Testament League or similar movement for 
promoting daily Bible reading; make a religious census 
of the neighborhood, etc. 



96 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

The parents' department of the Sunday-school is a part 
of the Adult division which may well be conducted by 
the organized class. The most important work of this 
department is to conduct parents' classes for the study of 
child-life and of methods of training children and pro- 
moting their Christian life. The International Sunday - 
School Association suggests the following activities for 
this department: providing individual study of parents' 
courses by those who find it impossible to attend the 
class; co-operating with the Home Department and Cradle 
Roll; establishing a small library of books especially in- 
tended for parents; organizing neighborhood classes and 
clubs for mothers; holding occasional meetings for parents 
and teachers for discussion of plans for mutual helpful- 
ness, etc. 

5. Relations to men's brotherhoods and women's societies. 
Every class which attains the standard of organization of 
the International Sunday-School Association, as above 
stated, should enrol with that association by filling out 
the necessary application blank and paying the small fee 
for a certificate of recognition. It thus becomes a recog- 
nized part of the great Organized Adult Bible Class 
movement. 

The relations existing between men's organized classes 
in Sunday-schools and men's brotherhoods in churches 
and between the women's classes and women's societies 
of various names should be of the most friendly nature, 
with hearty co-operation at all times. Such organizations 
should never compete. Only in large churches is it wise 
to maintain both men's organized classes and a brother- 
hood. Better one strong organization anywhere than two 
struggling ones. 

Where there are several Bible classes or brotherhoods 
in a community or district, they may well be united in a 
federation. Such a federation of the Christian men or 
women, or both, in any neighborhood may help to accom- 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 97 

plish the objects already outlined much better than any 
single organized class. Christianity must be militant in 
the face of evil. A federation of a few score or a few 
hundred or a thousand Christian men and women in any 
community or district can do much to hasten the reforms 
so greatly needed everywhere. 

The remarkable success of the 
2. BOYS AND GIRLS Organized Adult Bible Class and 
the natural tendency of teen-age 
boys and girls to form clubs and to unite in groups pre- 
pared the way for the Organized Secondary Class. The 
plan of organization and work, with its emphasis on 
Bible study, its allegiance to the local church, and its 
adaptability to the physical, social, mental, and spiritual 
needs of Intermediate and Senior pupils, has been success- 
fully adopted by many Sunday-schools. 

The standard of organization is as follows: 

(1.) The class shall have at least five officers: president, 
vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and teacher. It shall 
have as many committees as necessary to carry on its work. 

(2.) The class shall be definitely connected with a Sunday- 
school. 

(3.) It shall have a Sunday Bible session and, if prac- 
ticable, a week-day session for class activities. 

(4.) The age limits of the class shall be not less than 
thirteen or more than twenty years. 

1. Methods. The method of organizing an Intermediate 
or a Senior class is very similar to that of an Adult class, 
except that the teacher needs to give the work more careful 
supervision. Officers and committees should be chosen, a 
class name and motto adopted, and class colors selected. If 
the class is composed of boys, a class yell will add to the 
interest. Girls will be pleased with a class flower. Fre- 
quently a class has a song of its own composed by a member 
or some interested friend. Class caps and sashes are quite 



98 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

an attraction to young people for use at the class outings, 
and can be either purchased or made by the members. 
The royal blue and white button has been adopted as the 
class emblem and certificates of recognition are issued 
the same as for Adult classes. 

2. Activities. In order to be deeply interested, boys and 
girls must be active. Make the unruly boy feel that he is of 
some account and you seldom have trouble with him. A 
very important factor in the proper control of Intermediate 
pupils is the companionship of good men and women. 
The organized class offers a splendid opportunity for 
helpful activity under proper leadership. The Interme- 
diate age is the natural period for uniting with the church. 
No normal boy or girl passes through this period of life 
without being enthusiastically interested in something. 
Is it not the duty and privilege of the Sunday-school to 
see that the boys and girls are at this time led to accept 
Christ? The organized class helps them to say, "our 
school," "our church"; so that when the Christian life 
is presented to them in its attractive power the appeal 
should receive a ready response. What is more natural 
than that they should become active members in the 
church whose school has taught them the first lessons in 
Christian service? 

There are many ways in which the members of Interme- 
diate and Senior organized classes can work for the Master. 
Their activities, like those of the Adult classes, will depend 
largely upon the needs of the community. The following 
activities are suggested: 

Take charge occasionally of the opening service of the 
Sunday-school. 

Bring flowers for church or Sunday-school decoration 
and afterward carry them to the sick. 

Have a missionary box in which to gather money to be 
appropriated for designated missionary objects at home 
or abroad. 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 99 

Contribute to any church or Sunday-school improve- 
ments. 

If there is one member more unfortunate in any way 
than the others, give a dinner or birthday party for him. 

Collect fresh or canned fruits, vegetables, jellies, etc., 
and carry them to the sick or poor, or send them to some 
charitable institution. Gather fresh eggs at Easter and 
send these to the poor and sick. Passages of Scripture 
may be written on the eggs. 

Play Santa Claus at Christmas and distribute toys to 
poor children. 

Serve as the superintendent's messengers. Deliver any 
message he may wish to send to any part of the room 
during the service, or to any home after the service. 

Keep the superintendent and pastor informed regarding 
new families in the community. 

Collect surplus or used Sunday-school literature and 
send it where it can be of use. 

As far as possible see that all the babies of the com- 
munity are enrolled on the Cradle Roll and that all the 
children and young people attend Sunday-school. 

These and many more such activities should keep the 
young people busy and train them in the service of the 
church and school so that when they are older there will 
be fewer "I can't" Christians and more of the "Til try" 
class. 

3. Relations to young people's societies. The organized 
Intermediate and Senior classes should be in cordial and 
fraternal relations with the young people's society wherever 
one exists. There should be both organized classes and a 
young people's society in every vigorous church, for the 
class sessions are for Bible teaching and study, and the 
meetings of the society are for prayer and testimony. 
There should never be friction between two such organi- 
zations. One who serves as an efficient leader or director 
of the activities of the young people, who will guide the 



100 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

work of organized classes and the young people's society 
so that they are mutually helpful, renders a great service 
in any church or community. 

QUESTIONS 

1. State at least five advantages of the organized 
Adult class. 

2. Name a few common errors made by teachers of 
Adult classes. 

3. What would be practical activities for an organized 
Adult class in your community? 

4. What should be the relation of a men's organized 
Bible class to any brotherhood or other Christian organi- 
zation of the men? 

5. How should the women's class co-operate with the 
parents' department? 

6. Name a few practical activities for an organized 
boys' class; for an organized girls' class. 

7. Why should there be both an organized Senior class 
and a young people's society in any vigorous church? 



LESSON VII 

Standards and Progress 

1. A STANDARD FOR Each Sunday -school should have 
SMALL SCHOOLS— a goal, for the attainment of 
HOW TO REACH IT which every member should 
strive. The standard must not 
be so high as to be unattainable; but high enough 
to require effort to reach it. The state and county 
organizations and various denominations have adopted 
standards of excellence. When these standards are made 
difficult enough for the strong, well-organized school; 
they are beyond the reach of the weak, struggling school, 
when they are made easy enough for the weak school, 
they are too low for the strong one. The better plan, 
therefore, would seem to be for the small schools to fix 
their own standard, raising it by adding more requirements 
as the schools increase in efficiency. 

Among the most important requirements are: the school 
in session throughout the year, an average attendance of 
two-thirds of the enrolment, grading of pupils in classes 
adapted to their development, the Bible in general use in 
the school session, good records faithfully kept and 
regularly reported, meetings of officers and teachers for 
conference regarding the work, a sufficient supply of good 
Sunday-school literature and other helps, more conversions 
in the school and additions from it to the church each year. 
Other requirements which may be added are: a Cradle 
Roll, a Home Department, an organized Adult class, a 
Teacher-training class, observance of the more important 
special days, fellowship with neighboring schools in group 



102 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

gatherings, participation in state and county Sunday- 
school work, contributing to missions. 

The standard should be adopted at a conference of workers 
where all agree to strive for its attainment. It may be 
posted in a conspicuous place in the school and referred 
to from time to time. Each officer and teacher, and each 
pupil as well, should be made to understand that its 
attainment in some measure depends upon him; that 
failure means that the entire school has failed, not merely 
the superintendent or teachers; and that success means 
that the school as a whole has succeeded and that every 
member deserves some credit. 

2. GRADING THE An essential forward step in many of 
SCHOOL the smaller Sunday-schools would be 

the proper grading of the pupils as indi- 
cated in Lesson I of Part II. The chart given in that 
lesson should be used as a guide, and, if possible, in the 
Junior, Intermediate, and Senior classes boys and girls 
should be kept separate. 

Almost as important as the correct grading of the 
pupils is the wise selection of teachers who by temperament 
and training are fitted for the grades they teach. Fre- 
quently a teacher who would be successful in a grade for 
which he has natural or acquired ability, gives up the 
work in discouragement after having failed in a grade 
for which he is not fitted. 

Sudden and radical changes in the school organization 
are unwise. When many pupils are incorrectly grouped, 
the work of grading should begin with the youngest and 
move gradually upward. Place all the children from 
three to six in a Beginners' Department or class, under a 
teacher who really loves and understands little children. 
Next, group the children from six to nine in a Primary 
Department or class, and in the same manner, when 
sufficient teachers are available, proceed with the organi- 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 103 

zation of the higher grades. Scarcity of teachers may 
limit the number of grades that a school shall have, but 
when teachers can be secured, grades should not be 
combined merely because there are few pupils. Two 
pupils are enough to begin a class. Better have a very 
few pupils in a class than too many. 

In the thoroughly graded school the teachers remain 
in the grade for which they are best fitted and the pupils 
pass on to the next higher grade, thus changing teachers 
every third year. Of course this would also necessitate 
a graded course of study, and when the departments meet 
separately there should be devotional exercises and activi- 
ties adapted to the age of the pupils. 

When organization is carried to this point, certain 
dangers must be carefully guarded against. The school 
may become a piece of machinery for classifying boys and 
girls as if they were inanimate things which could be 
slipped into the right pigeon-holes; intellectual accom- 
plishment may overshadow spiritual growth; Bible study 
may be emphasized more than Christian living; the 
ability to impart knowledge may be more highly regarded 
than the personal touch; and formal organization may 
take the place of a soul-inspiring and life-giving fellowship. 

To accomplish the highest possibilities and to avoid 
these dangers, gradation in a Sunday-school must never 
be regarded as a panacea for all Sunday-school ills, nor 
as an end in itself, but simply as an application of true 
educational methods to Sunday-school conditions, and 
as a means for achieving greater and more lasting results 
in the work of the Master Teacher. 

A graded school should have trained teachers — men and 
women who not only love the work and are truly spiritual, 
but who have specialized in their particular grade. 

In no previous period of Sunday-school history have 
there been such abundant opportunities to do this as 
today. Innumerable books on the work of every grade 



104 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

can now be secured for reading and study. Some of 
these books should be in the library of every Sunday- 
school, and the superintendent should urge each of his 
teachers to read the books which apply to his work. 

Whenever a first course in teacher training is com- 
pleted, advanced reading or study courses should be taken 
by the graduates, in order that they may specialize in 
that part of the work for which they are best fitted by 
natural ability, experience, or previous training. 

3. SPREADING THE TEACHER- A school's efficiency 
TRAINING IDEA is in direct ratio to 

the consecration and 
ability of the teaching force. Consecration first; then 
training. Secure from the state or county organization, 
or an American Sunday-School Union missionary, leaflets 
on teacher training for distribution among the teachers; 
have the subject discussed in the workers' conference; 
if possible have an enthusiastic teacher-training worker 
address the teachers. 

That all the teachers do not approve the plans with 
enthusiasm or at once enter a training class is no cause 
for discouragement or discontinued effort. Continue to 
pray and urge. If none of the teachers of the school have 
taken a training course, try to get two or three who will 
begin the study. There are large possibilities in small 
beginnings. Above all, do not give up the effort because 
no class can be organized at once. Perhaps you have 
tried to sow seed before the soil was ready. Try again 
to talk about the need and advantages of teacher training. 
Endeavor to organize some of the members of the school 
(above fifteen years of age) into a normal class for the 
study of a training course during the school session, or at 
another time if the latter is more practicable. 

Beware lest your plea for securing trained teachers 
discourages those who are already faithfully working. 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 105 

Never build an argument for teacher training upon the 
inefficiency or failure of the present teaching force. It 
discourages those who are already teaching, and new 
recruits are not won by such appeals. The consecrated, 
volunteer teaching force of the Sunday-school has achieved 
wonderful things. The Sunday-school is not a failure; 
it never has failed; and so long as it remains loyal to the 
Great Teacher it never can fail. Glorious as has been 
its past history, there are still greater things for it to 
accomplish; and there is no Sunday-school achievement 
we can dream of which cannot be realized with a corps 
of teachers fully consecrated and well trained. 

4. REALIZING THE The Sunday-school is organized to 
SUPREME AIM teach the Word of God for the for- 
mation and development of Christian 
character. It exists to make the message of salvation better 
known, believed, and applied. Salvation, character build- 
ing, Christian service — these are its watchwords. It believes 
the Bible is the inspired Word of God, preserved and 
handed down to us under God's providential care; that 
all men, women, and children who have reached the age 
of accountability are sinners; that Christ came to save 
from sin and to break the power of sin. It realizes that 
the regeneration of a soul is not the work of a teacher, no 
matter how well he or she may have taught; but that 
it is a supernatural work of the Spirit of God; that we 
may plant and water but God alone can give the increase. 
Therefore, the spiritual aim must be supreme in Sunday- 
school work, that the organization may become a great 
co-operative force for evangelism and Christian training. 

God has ordained that only the Holy Spirit can awaken 
an interest in spiritual things. Before the school session 
can become truly spiritual, the school workers must be 
endowed with power from on high. Sunday-school 
worker, you may be converted but not Spirit-filled. Christ 



106 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

may have entered your heart but not be enthroned there. 
The Holy Spirit cannot be bought or earned or deserved; 
he comes as the free gift of God to those who seek him. 
There must be a willing mind, an intense desire, a giving 
up of every questionable thing, as far as possible the 
righting of all wrongs done to others, whole-hearted 
obedience, real consecration, complete surrender, per- 
severing faith. Here is a mystery: only the Spirit of 
God can enable one to meet the conditions that make the 
gift of the Spirit possible. It is all God's work. You 
cannot depend too much upon God; you cannot depend 
too little upon self. 

5. ENCOURAGEMENT FROM Human nature unaided is 
OUR GREAT LEADER sure to falter and fail. 

Sooner or later disappoint- 
ments come and endeavor becomes a burden; then the 
discouraged worker ceases to strive, not because plans 
have miscarried but because there has not been sufficient 
motive back of them. There is only one source for an 
unfailing motive. When Christ was on earth he gathered 
a company of men to whom he imparted a new motive — 
one that impelled them to the end, even when that end 
was a martyr's death. Today he continues to inspire 
men and women with a purpose that does not fail in the 
face of disappointments and discouragements. 

George Matheson, the Scotch preacher, said that it 
requires a greater exercise of divine power to inspire with 
habitual hope than to inspire with habitual faith or love. 
Other people may help us to trust or love, but only God 
can keep us hopeful. Man is prone to despondency. One 
or two disappointments are often enough to prompt that 
paralyzing question, What is the use? Only a close 
fellowship with Christ can furnish an inspiration that will 
sustain the Sunday-school worker at all times. The 
discouraged disciples on the way to Emmaus felt their 



ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 107 

hearts burn within them as he talked with them by the 
way. 

That Christ is ready to grant the worker in the Bible 
school this intimate fellowship with himself is indicated by : 

1. His emphasis on teaching. Himself the Great 
Teacher, his final commission to the disciples and to us 
was to " teach all nations," and this command was 
followed immediately by the promise, "Lo, I am with 
you always, even unto the end of the world," Matt. 
28 : 20. Teacher, there cannot be failure if we obey that 
command and experience this fellowship. "Be of good 
cheer; I have overcome the world." 

2. His devotion to a small company of learners. He was 
content to devote himself to twelve men. How patient 
he was with their ignorance, their slowness of comprehen- 
sion, their foolish questions! He will understand your 
difficulties; he will not leave you to struggle alone. 

3. His present living interest in us and in our work. God 
has wonderfully blessed the Sunday-school. Beginning 
with a few ragged children in a small room of a dwelling- 
house, it has grown to be the greatest religious organiza- 
tion in the world. Its money has sent missionaries around 
the world; its literature is published in nearly every 
tongue; it has reached every land. Born the child of 
the Church, it has become the chief source of the Church's 
growth. Sunday-school workers, you are in a service 
which has received Christ's richest benediction. He 
longs to give you greater success; claim from him the 
power to abound in usefulness. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Outline a standard suitable for your school. 

2. Mention three points in it which you think should 
first be aimed for. 

3. How could your school be better graded? 



108 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

4. What steps should be taken to organize a teacher- 
training elass in your school? In some neighboring school 
that has none? 

5. What is the supreme aim of the Sunday-school? Why? 

6. What reasons have we for counting upon Christ's 
special interest in the work of the Sunday-school? 

7. How can you secure a deeper consecration on the 
part of your Sunday-school workers? 



REVIEW OF PART II 

LESSON I 

1. Why should a teacher study his pupils as carefully 
as his lessons? 

2. What can he learn from their play-life? from their 
home influences? 

LESSON II 

3. What are the characteristic features of the physical 
growth of Primary children? of their mental develop- 
ment? of their spiritual progress? 

4. How should children of this age be taught? 

LESSON III 

5. What new traits develop in boys and girls of the 
Junior age? 

6. How should these traits influence Sunday-school 
work for boys and girls of this age? 

LESSON IV 

7. What are the prominent characteristics of the 
Intermediate age? 

8. What sort of teachers are needed for teen-age 
pupils? what kind of teaching? 

LESSON V 

9. What different methods should be used in teaching 
Seniors, who are now facing life's realities? 



110 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 



LESSON VI 

10. Why should classes both of older boys and girls 
and of adults be organized? 

11. What lines of service are open to organized classes? 

LESSON VII 

12. What may be gained from setting up a Sunday- 
school standard? 

13. Mention five points that should be included in the 
standard of even the smallest schools? 

14. What encouragement may every Sunday-school 
worker gain from considering the leadership of Christ 
in his work? 



Ill 

A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 



LESSON I 
A Clear Aim 

The Sunday-school session is primarily 
1. A SCHOOL a service of study. Its purpose was 

clearly defined a few years ago at a New 
England conference of Sunday-school workers: "The 
purpose of the Sunday-school is to teach religious truth, 
chiefly through the Bible, for the formation and develop- 
ment of Christian character." The question to be asked 
concerning every part of the order of service is this, Has 
it any religious or moral educational value? 

There are three things that we should expect to find 
in this distinctively religious school: 

1. A period of instruction and study. The lesson period 
is of paramount importance. It is for this that the 
Sunday-school has met. Nothing should be allowed to 
infringe upon the time allotted to it. The best possible 
teaching conditions should be provided. All other parts 
of the program should be planned with a view to their 
bearing upon the work of this period. 

2. A devotional period. The pupils are to be taught 
reverence for God and respect for holy things. The natu- 
ral way to develop these emotions is to teach the forms of 
reverence. During prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, 
and the singing of devotional hymns, perfect order and a 
reverent attitude should be quietly but firmly insisted 
upon. 

3. An activity period. The learning process is not com- 
pleted until the pupil knows how to use the facts and apply 



114 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

the truths of the lesson. While such application of the 
lessons is largely the work of the teachers, yet the superin- 
tendent should occasionally plan and suggest a school 
activity which will be a practical application of the lesson. 

2. A BIBLE The Sunday-school has one text-book, the 
SCHOOL Bible. The school is the Bible-study depart- 
ment of the church. For convenience the 
passage to be studied is usually printed on lesson papers or 
in quarterly magazines. This plan is not so new as some 
think. In the old synagogue schools, sections of the Old 
Testament were written on separate scrolls for convenience 
in handling. To give the lesson papers too great promi- 
nence, however, may cause the pupils to forget that they are 
really studying God's Word. Both superintendent and 
teachers should be supplied with the best lesson helps ob- 
tainable, but they should use the Bible in the school. Pupils 
should be encouraged to bring their own Bibles to the school 
session; and there should be on hand a sufficient number of 
well-bound Bibles to supply those who have not brought 
their own. Greater reverence for God's Word can be taught 
when the pupils hold a Bible in their hands than when 
they have only a section of the Bible printed with other 
matter on a sheet of paper. 

The best edition of the Bible for use in Sunday-schools 
is the American Standard Revised Version. The phrase- 
ology of the King James Version has become dear to many, 
but changes in the English language have made some of 
the words used therein obsolete, and have given an 
entirely different meaning to others. Besides, since that 
translation there have been discovered three Bible manu- 
scripts older and better than any used in making the 
King James Version, and scholars are now better 
acquainted with the ancient languages and better able to 
interpret their exact meaning. 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 115 

3. FOR ALL AGES, BUT The entire church mem- 
ESPECIALLY THE YOUNG bership in the Sunday- 
school session and the 

entire Sunday-school in the church service is a worthy 
aim. If the Sunday-school is a good place for the children, 
it is a good place for the parents. Get the men into the 
Sunday-school and you will keep the boys there. The 
Adult Bible class movement adds a mighty force to 
Sunday-school organization. 

Childhood is, however, the impressionable period of life, 
and in the effort to interest adults in the Sunday-school 
we must never overlook the needs of the children. Where 
it is necessary for the entire school to assemble in one 
room, the exercises should be so conducted that they will 
interest and help the young. When that is accomplished, 
those who are older will be interested as well. As the 
greatest Sunday-school loss occurs in the Intermediate 
grades, special pains should always be taken to make the 
school attractive to the boys and girls of that age. 

4. TO ENLIST AND TRAIN Our definition of the pur- 
FOLLOWERS OF THE p0S e of the Sunday-school, 
GREAT TEACHER already stated, declares that 

it is organized for the " for- 
mation and development of Christian character/' To 
win souls to Christ and to help Christians grow in grace 
is the real mission of the Sunday-school. Not a large 
enrolment, not a perfect organization, not a sound 
financial policy, not an attractive service, but lives 
given to and used for the Master — this is the measure 
of success. The value of all other things must be 
reckoned by how much they help in this. By its fruits 
each school must be judged. The Sunday-school through 
which young people pass without conversion is essentially 
a failure. 
The Sunday-school will be perpetuated by its own 



116 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

product. Sunday-school success in the future will depend 
upon the efficiency of those trained in the present-day 
schools. If the schools of today meet their responsibility 
in training workers, the schools of tomorrow will succeed 
beyond our greatest expectations. It has been well said 
that Sunday-school work today is like talking to the 
future over the long distance telephone. The crying need 
of the time is for willing and capable workers. The 
exceptional opportunity and the great responsibility of 
furnishing the next generation with able workers confronts 
our schools. First win the pupils to Christ; then train 
them for Christian service. 

5. FOLLOWING THE The Hebrews recognized the need 
BIBLE PATTERN of religious instruction and their 
traditions tell of very early Bible- 
schools. Deborah and Barak, it is said, reopened schools 
which had been closed by the Canaanites. Samuel 
conducted schools for the prophets. 

1. Jehoshaphat's example. It remained for King Jehosh- 
aphat, however, to establish a general system of religious 
education throughout the land. Believing that idolatry 
could not be removed until the ignorance from which it 
sprang had been enlightened, the king appointed a com- 
mission of five princes to which was entrusted this great 
undertaking. The princes were assisted by nine Levites 
and two priests, and doubtless by a large number of other 
priests and Levites appointed by the different cities and 
towns, 2 Chron. 17 : 7-9. It was an honest confession by 
king and people that the Word of the Lord is a lamp to 
the feet, and that a knowledge of that Word is necessary 
for the welfare of the individual and of the nation. 

2. Nehemiah's method. After the return from the Cap- 
tivity, Nehemiah reopened the schools and made Ezra 
superintendent of religious instruction. Public readings 
of the Law in these schools developed the synagogue and 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 117 

the synagogue school, which became so proficient, it is 
said, that many Jews, if questioned concerning the Law, 
could more easily repeat it than their own name. 

3. Christ's commission. Christ emphasized the neces- 
sity of religious instruction, for he went about all Galilee 
teaching in the synagogues and preaching, Matt. 4 : 23, 
while his final great commission was, "Go ye therefore, and 
make disciples of all the nations, . . . teaching them 
to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you," Matt. 
28 : 19, 20, R. V. 

As long as the Church was true to Christ's commission 
to teach, it made progress; when it neglected its teaching 
methods, it ceased to move forward. The Dark Ages 
were preceded by great preachers and poor teachers. 
Lea, a prominent historian of that period, says, "The 
decline in the spiritual life of the Church is attributable 
to its neglect of its educational methods." It would 
seem that the Sunday-school is not so much the child of 
the Church as the very source of the Church's life and 
strength. The Church of the future depends upon the 
Bible-schools of today. 

6. LEARNING FROM In 1780 Robert Raikes of Glouces- 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL ter, England, proprietor and editor 
HISTORY f tn e Gloucester Journal, became 

interested in the welfare of the 
poor and ragged children whom he found wandering in 
the streets. We of this generation can scarcely imagine 
the pitiable condition of these neglected children. They 
were dirty, half-starved, ragged urchins, who were 
without education or moral training, and whose vocab- 
ulary was composed largely of profane and vulgar lan- 
guage. Raikes opened the first modern Sunday-school 
by bringing together these children in the kitchen of a 
dwelling-house, with four women teachers whom he paid 
a shilling a day. The children were to come at ten in the 



118 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

morning and stay until twelve. Returning at one they 
were to be taken to church, and after church were to 
study the catechism until half-past five, when they were 
sent home, with the admonition to make no noise and not 
to play on the street. 

Raikes worked for three years in improving his Sunday- 
school before making any public announcement regarding 
it. Then he published an account of the work he was 
doing. The world seemed to be waiting for such a move- 
ment. The newspapers of Europe and America quickly 
spread the tidings. People traveled from afar to study 
the methods used by Raikes. Sunday-schools sprang 
up rapidly. In four years the schools of the United 
Kingdom had a membership of a quarter of a million. 
Instantly the Church began to gain ground. 

In 1803 the Sunday-School Union of London was 
organized. It still maintains a large corps of workers in 
England, Europe, and India. In 1816 a Sunday-School 
Union was organized in New York City, and another in 
Boston. The Philadelphia Sunday and Adult School 
Union, formed in 1817, within seven years had associated 
with it 700 schools in 17 of the then 24 states. In 1824, 
it changed its name to the American Sunday-School 
Union, as more truly descriptive of its national scope and 
activity. In 1917 it will have completed a century of 
service in the two-fold endeavor of furnishing a non- 
denominational but evangelical Sunday-school literature, 
and of planting and developing Union Sunday-schools in 
needy and isolated neighborhoods. With headquarters 
in Philadelphia, its Sunday-school missionaries operate 
in all parts of the land. 

By 1916 the Sunday-schools of the world numbered 
over 306,000, with a membership of about 32,000,000. 
Next to the Church of which they are an integral part, 
these schools, united in township, county, state, and 
international bodies, up to the World's Sunday-School 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 119 

Association, -form the greatest religious force in the world 
today. 

1. A pioneer agency, serving the ignorant and needy. 
The Sunday-school, as we have thus seen, was the pioneer 
educational agency to serve the ignorant and needy. 
Out of it developed the industrial schools of England, 
which in turn suggested the public schools of America. 
The Christian Church may well be proud of the fact that 
she was first in the field of popular education. The Sunday- 
school has never forgotten the purpose of its organization. 
It has become great, rich, and influential, but it has never 
ceased to minister to the needy and the ignorant. Its 
missionaries are still found on the frontiers of civilization, 
its classes are still open to the ignorant, its picnics and 
Christmas treats are still a boon to the needy, its libraries 
and literature are still freely distributed among the poor. 

This does not mean that its work has been for the poor 
exclusively or even chiefly. From the homes of rich and 
poor alike have come those ignorant of the Bible and 
untrained in religious matters. The Sunday-school has 
become a great democratic institution. Children of the 
wealthy listen to the instruction of a teacher poor in this 
world's goods but rich in the knowledge of the Kingdom 
of God; and the children of the poor are lovingly taught 
by men and women of position and affluence. Today the 
Sunday-school organizations have on their directing 
boards captains of finance, builders of big business, leaders 
in the scientific and educational world. 

2. Co-operating with the Christian home. In the moral 
and religious education of children, the Sunday-school was 
never intended to take the place of the home. True, it 
sought first the neglected children of the street and to a 
very large extent it still bears the full burden of religious 
education; yet it has ever sought the co-operation of the 
home. Its home departments, parents' clubs, adult classes 
are all attempts to bring the home and the school into 



120 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

closer relations. The Sunday-school has endeavored to 
make the home realize that the one short hour of the entire 
week during which it has the child is too short a time 
in which to impart the most important truths of life; and 
that home example and teaching are therefore of the 
greatest importance. The Sunday-school slogan has 
become, "To train up the child in the way he should go, 
go that way yourself. Bring the children to Sunday- 
school; do not send them." 

3. A unifying factor in advancing the Kingdom. The 
Sunday-school has been a unifying factor in advancing the 
Kingdom of God. It was the first large organization in 
which the people of different denominations met with one 
accord. Its uniform lessons, adopted by many denomina- 
tions and studied over the entire world, have offered a 
common topic of interest for people of different creeds and 
color. Its district, state, national, international, and world 
conventions have brought together people of different 
beliefs and climes. When Sunday-school folk gather in 
their great convention halls, 

There is neither East nor West, 
Border nor breed nor birth. 



QUESTIONS 

1. What is the difference between a service of study 
and a service of worship? 

2. How many Bibles were used in your school last 
Sunday? 

3. How many were present last Sunday in each depart- 
ment (or class) of your school? How may the weak 
departments (or classes) be strengthened? 

4. Did your last Decision Day bring results? Why, 
or why not? What other efforts have been put forth in 
your school the past year to win its members to Christ? 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 121 

5. What has been the effect of religious teaching on the 
progress of the Church at large? 

6. Why and by whom was the first modern Sunday- 
school organized? 

7. What share has the American Sunday-School Union 
had in Sunday-school development in the United States? 

8. How has the Sunday-school influenced all classes, 
especially in English-speaking countries? 



LESSON II 

A Good Leader 

1. THE SUPERINTENDENT The Sunday-school superin- 
AND HIS WORK tendent is a director of re- 

ligious instruction. What 
the principal is to the public school, the superintendent is 
to the Sunday-school. "Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness" makes religious instruction 
more important than secular, and gives the Sunday-school 
superintendent a higher opportunity than the public-school 
principal. The superintendent's responsibility has been 
increased in recent years by the failure of the home to 
impart religious instruction and training, and by the 
practice of excluding religious instruction from the 
curriculum of the public school. The responsibilities of 
the superintendent are heavy, but the reward is ample. 
See Matthew 10 : 42. 

1. Personal qualifications. Certain qualifications are 
essential in one who would render the most efficient service 
in this field. Fortunately these qualifications may be 
acquired by almost anyone who will earnestly strive to fit 
himself for the position. Superintendents are made, not 
born. Moreover, a high ideal should not hinder one 
who falls short of it from doing the best in his power. 

The superintendent should be an earnest, consistent 
Christian — a man or woman whom God honors and men 
respect; whose private life is beyond reproach and whose 
public life is a constant challenge to evil; who is a positive 
Christian and not merely a negative one; one who does 
the right, not one who simply refrains from doing the 
wrong. He should wear the full armor of righteousness, 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 123 

Eph. 6 : 14-17, arid be a man of God. He should realize 
his own weakness and God's strength, and know how to 
get help from heaven. He will commune with God and 
be a man of prayer. He will ask, beseech, persevere. 
When the answer comes, he will give the glory to God 
who giveth the increase. His boast will not be, "See 
what I have accomplished, " but, " Behold what God hath 
wr ought.' ' 

The superintendent will be a lover and a student of his 
schooVs text-book, the Bible. Not a doctor of divinity, but 
a humble learner, ^sitting at the Master's feet, reading, 
meditating, listening to the Spirit's interpretation; a 
man whose soul is well nourished with the bread of life. 
To him the Bible will be God's inspired Word. He will 
remember that the Holy Spirit has directed many good 
and learned men in their study of the Bible, and he will 
not be content with his own interpretation alone, but will 
seek the clearest twentieth-century light on the Scriptures. 

The superintendent will never be entirely satisfied with 
his own work nor with the fruits of his own labor. He 
will be constantly searching for new and better methods. As 
a director of religious instruction he will study the best 
educational methods. He will subscribe for the best 
Sunday-school periodicals, and will meet as frequently 
as possible in conventions and conferences with other 
workers. He will always be looking for new ideas and 
will carefully file those he cannot immediately use. He 
will not, however, try new plans or methods merely as 
experiments; but will be sure, before introducing them, 
that he is prepared and determined to carry them to a 
successful issue, remembering that every failure increases 
the difficulties of his position. He will be up-to-date, 
informed regarding advance movements in the Sunday- 
school field, and familiar with modern Sunday-school 
equipment. In short, he will be the Sunday-school 
specialist of his community. 



124 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

The superintendent will be a lover of children, and since 
he has in his school pupils of all ages, he will endeavor 
to understand the characteristics, needs, dangers, and 
possibilities of each period of life. He should, of course, 
be acquainted with the community, and be able to know 
and greet each worker and pupil by name. 

Do not think that the qualifications here outlined 
close the office of superintendent to busy working men 
and women. It is surprising what may be acquired in 
the odd minutes of the day which most people waste. 
He who fits himself to serve others helps himself first and 
most of all. Nor should anyone be affrighted or dis- 
heartened by this statement of a superintendent's quali- 
fications. In a community where no such leader is to be 
had, the man or woman who, though most imperfectly 
qualified, will seek God's help and use such talents as 
he or she possesses, may keep a Sunday-school at work 
with results that will benefit the whole community. 

2, CONDUCTING The superintendent should be on hand 
THE SCHOOL before the time of opening that he 
may greet the members as they arrive, 
confer with the leader of the music regarding the hymns, 
and notify any who are expected to take part. He should 
leave at home all tendencies to ill-temper, and every in- 
clination to grumble or criticize. He should bring with 
him his Bible, a confidence born of prayer for help and 
guidance, a smiling countenance, a warm hand-clasp, an 
abundant supply of patience. Thirty seconds before the 
starting-time he should be on the platform with his pre- 
viously prepared program in hand, ready to begin promptly. 
Since it is a school which is to be conducted, good order 
is the first requisite. In securing this the personality and 
manner of the superintendent will count for much. Order 
is as contagious as disorder. The noisy superintendent 
may expect a noisy school. The first act of discipline 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 125 

which the superintendent performs should be upon himself. 
Is he nervous? Is he impatient? Is he loud-spoken? 
Does he step heavily? Does he move his books noisily? 
Does he ring his bell frequently and loudly? Every 
superintendent should watch himself some Sunday and 
see how much noise he really does make. He should 
never try to talk down a noise; but quietly facing the 
school, wait until the noise has ceased and then speak. 

The superintendent must be just but firm when disci- 
pline is needed, and must be sure that he has the real 
offender before reprimanding. The superintendent must 
never threaten. If there is an unruly class in the school, 
a letter from the superintendent to the leaders in the 
disorder, or a personal interview with them, will frequently 
solve the difficulty. Whichever method is used, the 
superintendent should make known his disappointment 
at their misbehavior and try to enlist them as leaders in 
promoting good order. He should also remember that 
Robert Raikes had more trouble in his school with the 
girls than with the boys, and that the disorder is not 
always caused by boys. Only as a last resort should he 
report a disobedient child to the parents. 

A little earnest endeavor on the part of the superinten- 
dent to understand the disorderly members and to appre- 
ciate their home training and influence will often reveal 
to him the correct method of control. When every 
method has failed, however, the unruly one should be 
sent from the school — not in anger but with expressions 
of regret. It is unfair to the remainder that one or two 
should spoil the order of an entire class or school and so 
interfere with the good that might otherwise be accom- 
plished. 

The superintendent should never hurry, but should 
carry out his program without a break. It is often in 
the few seconds when nothing is happening — when the 
superintendent is coming from the back of the room, or 



126 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

is wondering what to do next, or the music-leader is 
looking for a hymn — that superintendent and teachers 
lose control. First of all, then, it is important that the 
superintendent get order and keep it. 

Variety is the spice of a Sunday-school session as well as of 
life. Some things must be done in the school every Sunday, 
but the order in which they are done may be so changed 
as to bring the necessary variety into the service. The 
program may also be varied by having different persons 
take part or by having one, and then another, take entire 
charge of some part of the service. A class may prepare 
the opening service and one of its number take charge. 

It will contribute to good order during the entire 
session, if perfect quiet is insisted upon during certain 
parts of the devotional exercises, such as prayer and the 
reading of God's Word. The superintendent should be 
so sincerely devout himself as to be visibly pained by any 
confusion during this time. It is quite as much the 
business of the Sunday-school to instill reverence for God 
as it is to teach certain biblical facts regarding God and 
his dealings with men. For this reason there should be 
in every session of the school a devotional period, during 
which certain forms of worship are strictly observed. 
Short responsive readings, in which all take part; devo- 
tional hymns, sung quietly and thoughtfully; a short 
Scripture lesson, read during perfect silence, a few moments 
of silent prayer, with every head bowed; brief prayers, 
petitioning God for special local needs — all of these will 
assist in developing a true spirit of reverence. 

A sanctimonious expression or tone assumed by the 
superintendent; a pretense of reverence which he does 
not feel; a garment of holiness slipped on simply for the 
school session, will be fatal to true worship by the school. 
To be effective the reverence which the superintendent 
exhibits on Sunday must be the result of his having 
walked and talked with God during the week. 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 127 

All business matters such as the making of announce- 
ments, the taking of the offering, etc., should be attended 
to before the lesson period. Nothing should occur after 
the lesson is taught except what will strengthen the 
impression of the lesson teaching on the minds of the 
pupils. An appropriate lesson hymn sung thoughtfully, 
or a poem bearing on the lesson truth read well, will help. 

The superintendent should not attempt a review of the 
entire lesson. His task is to select an important truth of 
the lesson and by illustration, object talk, story, anecdote, 
or a few words of exhortation so impress this lesson truth 
that it cannot be easily forgotten. Brevity succeeds. 
With a few well-directed strokes he is to clinch the truth 
and not to hammer away at random. 

The blackboard is of invaluable assistance, but should 
not be used every Sunday. Legible, not fancy, writing 
is essential. Good outlines rather than perfect drawings 
are desirable. An elaborate drawing which attracts atten- 
tion to itself instead of to the lesson is poor; one that 
excites laughter is worse. 

3. SECURING AND TRAIN- A few fundamental facts re- 
ING TEACHERS garding the Sunday-school, 

kept steadily in mind, will 
guide in the selection of teachers. (1) The Sunday-school 
is assembled for the purpose of teaching religious truth, 
principally through the Bible — for the formation and 
development of Christian character. (2) The time is 
short — one brief thirty-minute teaching period in an 
entire week. (3) The thing to be accomplished is of 
the greatest importance — the salvation and Christian 
development of the pupils. An efficient teacher in 
such a school should be a consistent Christian, a student 
of the Bible, a searcher after truth, a conscientious 
worker. Teaching a Sunday-school class is a serious 
business; do not select a trifler. Unfortunately, con- 



128 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

scientiousness and ability do not always go hand in hand. 
When a choice must be made between the two, select the 
conscientious rather than the brilliant teacher. Men 
teachers for boys and women teachers for girls is a good 
rule; but ability should not be sacrificed. for sex. Give 
a class of boys to an able woman teacher rather than to a 
poor man teacher. 

The best teacher can be improved. A training class 
for the active teachers should be organized under a 
competent leader; where this is impossible the teachers 
should be encouraged to take a reading or a correspondence 
course. 

The problem of securing good teachers will not be 
satisfactorily solved until the school establishes a normal 
class or department for the training of teachers. Young 
people who show any desire or ability to teach should be 
placed in a class where they can study a training course. 
Such a class may be held during the school session; or, 
when that is not practicable, either following the school 
session on Sunday or on some week-day evening. It 
need not be large at the beginning; training courses are 
usually divided into three or four parts, and when the 
class has completed one section new members should be 
enlisted to enter upon the study at that point. 

4. PLANNING Special days should be carefully 

SPECIAL DAYS observed, as they add interest and 
give the impression that the school 
is up-to-date. The greater festivals of the year, such 
as Easter and Christmas, should be provided for by 
committees appointed especially for those days. Each 
school should also have a special-day committee to provide 
something suitable for other days. 

Rally Day in town is usually held in the early fall after 
the public schools have reopened and vacations are over. 
In the country it may be appointed for a spring day after 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 129 

the roads are again in good condition. In either case it 
affords an opportunity to rally all workers and pupils 
and inaugurate a forward campaign. Either Rally Day 
or Children's Day in June may be made the occasion for 
recognizing Scripture memorization and other good work, 
and for making promotions from one grade or class to 
another. 

If national holidays, days of historical interest, and 
birthdays of some of the most prominent Christian leaders, 
hymn writers, etc., are observed, there will be fewer 
Sundays without some special feature than with it. The 
observance of such days should not take much time. 
A brief mention of the day, the reading of a special tribute 
to the one whose memory is cherished, and a timely lesson 
to be learned from the life or the event commemorated — 
these are sufficient. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What spiritual qualifications are desirable in a 
superintendent? 

2. How can the devotional exercises help the order of 
the school? 

3. How can next Sunday's lesson be impressed upon the 
pupils by the superintendent from the desk? 

4. What should be the first step in an effort to secure 
better trained teachers for your school? 

5. Suggest a suitable observance in your school for the 
next special Sunday. 



LESSON III 
Other Officers 

1. THE ASSISTANT SUPERIN- 1. In large schools and 
TENDENT AND DEPART- often also in small schools 
MENT SUPERINTENDENTS it will be found advanta- 
geous to appoint an assist- 
ant superintendent. It is a mistake for the superintendent 
to attempt to do everything himself. 

The assistant superintendent will perform the duties 
of the superintendent in the latter's absence and render 
whatever aid he can at all times. He should have some 
part in every service of the school. Since he may be 
called upon at any time to take the place of the superin- 
tendent, he should possess somewhat similar qualifications. 
He should be willing but not officious. 

2. The superintendent should have the help of the assistant 
superintendent in looking after the following tasks: 

(1) Substitute teachers must be secured to fill any vacan- 
cies that occur from week to week. Every effort should 
be made to impress the teachers with the importance of 
being present, and it should be understood that, if possible, 
they are to give notice of expected absence. The assistant 
superintendent may teach a class of substitute teachers, 
keeping one week in advance of the school, or in a small 
school he may teach one of the regular classes. 

(2) New pupils are to be welcomed, placed in suitable 
classes, and supplied with lesson helps. 

(3) The sick in the community should be visited, 
whether members of the school or not, and the needs of 
the poor should receive attention. There are frequently 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 131 

new families to be looked up and invited to the school. 
Continual effort must be made to reclaim those who have 
drifted away. Much, also, can be done in the way of 
making the school a social center in the community. 

In these, and in other activities, a modest, efficient 
assistant superintendent will prove himself an invaluable 
officer. 

3. Department superintendents. Where the school is 
divided into departments there should be a superintendent 
over each section — Cradle Roll, Primary, Junior, Inter- 
mediate, Senior, and Home — who will have oversight and 
responsibility for that particular department. 

2. THE SECRETARY Every Sunday-school should have 
AND TREASURER both a secretary and a treasurer. 
To prevent any question arising 
as to the proper handling of the Sunday-school money, it 
is not advisable that the same person fill both of these 
offices. If it is impossible to find enough persons to fill 
all the offices, some other officer or a teacher may act as 
treasurer, but not the secretary, through whose hands the 
Sunday-school collections should first pass to be recorded. 
1. Records. Much of the success of the school depends 
upon the secretary, for he is the connecting link among 
the workers. As his title indicates, he is to keep in a 
suitable record book, or in a card catalogue, the register 
of enrolment of all officers, teachers, and pupils, with 
addresses; to record the attendance, the offering, and any 
other desired facts; to write the minutes of the business 
meetings; to keep the names of the pupils who join the 
church. So far as possible, all his records should be in 
ink and they should be kept in permanent form in w T ell- 
bound record books or suitable files. 

These are important duties, calling for some ability, 
and should be performed conscientiously. From his 
records, the secretary should report to the school each 



132 5 UNDA Y SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

Sunday the attendance and the offering, comparing them 
with the corresponding Sunday of the previous year. 
He may also compare the average attendance or offering 
of a month or a season with the same period of other 
years, that an increase may encourage the school or a 
decrease spur the officers and the teachers to plan and 
work for improvement. 

He should vary his report sufficiently to make it inter- 
esting. If there is an attendance register in front of the 
room, he will have the day's figures placed thereon before 
the closing exercises. Where such a register makes its 
own report, he may occasionally announce any fact of 
general interest. He should draw the attention of the 
teachers to any of their pupils who may have been absent 
for several Sundays in succession; and when the teacher 
fails to win back the absent one, the secretary should 
bring the matter to the attention of the superintendent or, 
in larger schools, of the visiting committee. 

He should see that lesson helps for teachers and pupils 
in sufficient quantity are promptly ordered and duly 
received. He should see that the distribution and collec- 
tion of classbooks, cards, and offering envelopes do not 
disturb the devotional exercises nor the teaching of the 
lesson. 

Where there is no separate temperance secretary, the 
school secretary, in co-operation with the superintendent, 
should make sure that every pupil has a suitable oppor- 
tunity to sign the pledge, and carefully preserve these 
pledges. Where there is no missionary secretary, he 
should see that an advance announcement of the mis- 
sionary offering is made, and keep a separate record of 
money received for this purpose. After counting all 
money received for every purpose, he should carefully 
record the same and then hand it to the treasurer, taking 
a receipt from him. 

To be a good secretary, one must be accurate and 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 133 

reliable. Often one quite young, but possessing these 
qualities, may fill the position acceptably. 

2. Funds. The treasurer should not only receive, hold, 
and upon proper order pay out the school money, but 
he ought to exercise a general oversight of the school 
finances. He should remember that the Sunday-school 
is not organized to make and save money, but that the 
money is to be used in the work of the Lord. On the 
other hand, he should warn the officers against any 
extravagance, and should see that the school expenses 
are not greater than the receipts. When the receipts 
are not sufficient to meet the necessary expenses, he 
should confer with the superintendent about plans to 
increase them. Since he is handling money that is not 
his own, he should keep in ink and in permanent form a 
full and accurate account of all receipts and expenditures, 
giving the secretary receipts for all money received and 
taking receipts for ah money paid out. He should see 
that all money received for special purposes, such as 
missionary offerings, is kept separate from the general 
funds and used only for the purpose for which it was 
received. He should make written reports to the business 
meetings, make a full report to the school at least once a 
year, and insist that the school appoint annually competent 
auditors to verify his accounts. 

Since a school exists for the forma- 
3. THE LIBRARIAN tion and development of Christian 
character, the librarian will be an 
important officer; for, as has been well said, "Reading 
begets reflection, reflection begets motive, motive begets 
action, action begets habit, and habit begets character." 
1. Circulating library books. The type of Sunday-school 
library book which satisfied an earlier generation has 
passed. Too often in its place we find the sentimental 
love story or the sensational tale of adventure. The 



134 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

librarian, aided usually by a library committee, should 
carefully select from books of fiction, biography, history, 
and travel, only such as are true to life and present high 
ideals. To these may be added books on nature study, 
standard poets, the best lives of Christ, of Paul and other 
Bible characters, missionary narratives and biographies, 
illustrated works on Bible lands, customs, and archaeology. 
He should know the books in his library and be 
acquainted with the likes and dislikes of the various pupils, 
that he may intelligently suggest books which will appeal 
to their interests. He should encourage every one of them 
to read, and be able to recommend the right book to enlist 
the interest of the boy or girl who cares little for reading. 

He should use the blackboard occasionally, writing on 
it a short description of some interesting book. He may 
occasionally speak from the platform regarding some 
particular book which he thinks deserves more general 
reading. He will of course keep a correct record of the 
books taken out, and see that they are returned promptly. 
He should also plan with the superintendent methods of 
raising money for the purchase of new books. One new 
book a month is a good addition to the average library. 
Those interested in the Sunday-school may often be able 
to influence the addition to the town library of books 
useful to Sunday-school workers and pupils. 

2. Reference books. In cities and towns, the public 
library has very largely taken the place of the Sunday- 
school library. Every Sunday-school, however, should 
have a librarian. Even though it has no general circu- 
lating library, the school needs reference books and helps 
for the teachers. It should have maps of the Bible lands, 
a missionary map of the world, missionary and temperance 
charts, charts containing Bible passages to be memorized, 
such as the Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, etc., 
missionary curios, pictures for object lessons, flags, ban- 
ners, etc. 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 135 

3. Lesson helps. The librarian should be the custodian 
of all these and encourage their use. He should also look 
after the lesson helps when they have been received, and 
in a graded school where no other officer is appointed for 
the work, he should see that each class has the proper 
graded lessons. Especially in smaller schools, he should 
also see that the hymn books are kept in good condition, 
distribute them before the service and collect them after 
it, placing them in a suitable closet or box provided for 
the purpose. In this part of his duty, he may enlist the 
help of one or more of the pupils. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why is an assistant superintendent desirable, and 
what are his duties? 

2. Briefly outline the duties of a Sunday-school 
secretary. 

3. What records should be accurately kept in every 
school? 

4. How may the treasurer help to increase the offerings? 

5. How may the librarian encourage a more general use 
of the books, maps, charts, etc., which the school has? 

6. What study helps are lacking in your school which 
it ought to have? How may they be secured? 



LESSON IV 
Other Officers {continued) 

1. THE LEADER Sunday-school singing should be a form 

OF MUSIC of worship; it is desirable, therefore, 

that the leader be an earnest Christian 

who is able to make the music a genuine means of grace. 

Upon him (or her) the impressiveness of the devotional 

services will largely depend. 

1. Singing a part of worship. Thoughtless singing should 
be avoided. A school that sings "All Hail the Power of 
Jesus' Name" with no thought of praise to Christ might as 
well be singing "Marching through Georgia," for all the 
good the hymn will do them. Never use a hymn just to fill 
in time, or as a help in securing order, or as something to do 
while papers are being distributed. Aim to make the 
singing an important part of the service. Occasionally 
have a hymn sung softly and reverently as a prayer. 
Let the school read some stanza of a hymn of praise before 
singing it, that they may be impressed with the words. 
Tell of some incident connected with the history of a 
hymn that will give the words a new meaning. 

The grand old hymns of the Church are among its 
richest treasures and should be used. It is not necessary, 
however, to use these hymns exclusively. Some of the 
newer hymns unite the true devotional spirit with music 
which will help to create an atmosphere of worship. 
Urge the pupils to commit to memory some of the 
standard hymns; and when it can be done reverently, 
have them sing a hymn without the books. 

The superintendent, or the leader of music, should 
select hymns that are appropriate to the season or to the 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 137 

lesson. How it strikes a false note to follow a lesson on 
Christian activity with the hymn, "On Jordan's Stormy 
Banks I Stand"; or to attempt to prepare the pupils for 
a lesson on divine love by singing "The Son of God 
Goes Forth to War"; or to open a morning school with 
the hymn, "Abide with Me, Fast Falls the Eventide"! 

2. Choir. Loud noise is not always singing, yet there 
is inspiration in volume of sound. A well-trained choir 
of young voices will increase the volume and improve the 
quality of Sunday-school singing. To handle such a choir, 
however, will need considerable tact, patience, and for- 
bearance. 

3. What constitutes good singing. It is a mistake to 
turn the Sunday-school into a singing-schocl. The leader 
should not be conspicuous during the devotional service. 
He should train the school or choir at special rehearsals 
until the hymns or special music can be sung properly 
with least attention on his part. 

The leader need not be a trained musician, but he 
should be familiar with the fundamental principles of 
good singing. The first of these is well expressed in 
2 Chronicles 5 : 13, " . . . the trumpeters and singers 
were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising 
and thanking the Lord." This is the foundation of good 
music; the players and singers must be "as one, to make 
one sound." There must be agreement as to time, 
volume, and expression. This means that individual 
preferences and tendencies must be set aside, each singer 
yielding completely to the direction of the leader. In 
other words, good singing requires discipline, and since 
this is often irksome, the leader must be unfailing in tact 
and patience. 

Remember, also, that each composition has a character 
of its own. Some leaders believe that the prevailing 
fault in singing is "dragging" and they insist, conse- 
quently, that every hymn be sung in rapid time and with 



138 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

forced volume. Yet some hymns require to be sung 
slowly, and some should be sung softly. 

The leader, therefore, should first make himself master 
of what he wishes to teach others to sing. He should 
know just how he wishes to have any selection rendered, 
and seek to secure the desired result. 

Singing is often regarded merely as a diversion, but 
the development of its best possibilities requires thought 
and work. The leader should realize how much he may 
aid in securing the best results from his Sunday-school 
by increasing interest and promoting a more reverent, 
helpful service. 

4. Orchestra. A Sunday-school orchestra under wise 
direction is helpful. When it has a separate leader, it 
should be distinctly understood that during the school 
session it is under the direction of the superintendent or 
of the leader of music. Care should be taken to see that 
the selections which are played at the opening of the 
school, while the offering is being taken, and while the 
classes are changing, are entirely suitable. Let such selec- 
tions be stately church hymns or noble processionals, 
never popular dance music, or "rag time." Where an 
orchestra cannot be had, a violin or a cornet, if played 
by one who is in sympathy with the aim of the school, 
will help. In any case, do not allow weak or listless 
singing. Inspire the classes to keep together and to put 
hearts as well as voices into it. 

5. Hymn books. The selection of a hymn book is an 
important matter. Since the hymns are a part of the 
worship, they should express the natural emotions of 
youth; but their sentiments must be in sympathy with 
established Christian truth and their tunes suggestive of 
worship. Collections of standard hymns may be purchased 
at a low price. New hymn books that are cheap in price 
are frequently cheap in quality. Beware of hymns in 
which silly and senseless words are set to music that has 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 139 

"snap and go" to it. Such hymns will wear out before 
the cheap bindings of the books that contain them. Get 
the best you can for the pupils. They need and deserve it. 

2. THE HOME DEPARTMENT The Home Department 
SUPERINTENDENT seeks to enlist in Bible 

study every person who 
is not connected with any church or Sunday-school. It 
is especially composed of those who, because of age, 
disability, poor health, home cares, hours of labor, or any 
other cause, are unable to attend regular Sunday-school 
sessions. It is not intended for those who can go to the 
Sunday-school, if they wish; it is not organized for lazy 
folks. Its members are expected to study the Sunday- 
school lesson for a certain period each week, and, when 
able, to make some regular contribution to the school. 
As the work proceeds, the members may be pledged to 
other duties than the mere studying of the lesson, such 
as daily Bible-reading, prayer, the family altar, etc. 
It is sometimes better to have two classes of members — 
those who only agree to study the lesson, and those who 
are willing to undertake some other duty as well. If 
properly conducted, the department should not merely 
accomplish these things, but should create a greater 
interest in the school on the part of parents, resulting in 
more regular attendance of the children. It should 
also increase the active membership, for many who at 
first thought they could not attend the school may find, 
when their interest increases, that attendance is not only 
possible but also very enjoyable. 

The superintendent of this department should be an 
earnest Christian, sociable, sympathetic, resourceful, 
possessing executive ability and tact, and not easily 
discouraged. A woman may be chosen for the position, 
as she is likely to have more leisure for visiting and an 
easier access to most homes, than a man would have. 



140 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

She should enlist as many visitors as may be needed, 
taking care that they live in different sections of the 
school's territory. After the canvass for members has 
been made, she should divide them into groups of from 
six to ten each, and assign to each group an efficient 
visitor. She should carefully instruct these visitors 
regarding their duties, as well as see that they do the 
work as it should be done and that they meet in conference 
with her at least once a quarter. She should report 
regularly to the Sunday-school superintendent and at 
least annually to the school. With the superintendent 
and visitors, she should occasionally arrange for a Home 
Department social, and at least once a year for a special 
Home Department day in the Sunday-school and at the 
church service. An occasional cottage prayer-meeting 
for the members of the department and their neighbors 
is helpful, especially in communities remote from Sunday- 
school or church. 

The visitors are not teachers, but are just what their 
name implies. At least once a quarter they should visit 
each member in their group, leave the new lesson Quar- 
terly and offering envelope, and collect the offering for 
the preceding quarter, which they will turn over to the 
superintendent of the department, and she to the treasurer. 
The visitors should include men as well as women, as a 
special effort should be made to get the men of the com- 
munity into the Home Department. 

Their visits will afford an opportunity to speak of the 
work of the Sunday-school and of personal religious 
affairs. It is desirable, where possible, that all the 
visitors be Christians. They must, however, be persons 
who will perform the work regularly and promptly, and 
the more tact and sociability they have the better. Their 
records should show which of the members have studied 
the lessons, and such should receive credit similar to that 
given to those who attend the school. 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 141 

In communities remote from Sunday-school and 
church services, the lesson may be studied by Home 
Department members in neighborhood groups or in 
classes made up of entire families, although one may 
always study alone* if he cannot enlist others. 

The Home Department is a part of the Sunday-school, 
under the supervision of the superintendent, and the 
Home Department superintendent ranks with other 
officers and teachers. Its members are members of the 
Sunday-school and entitled to all the privileges of such 
membership. They should be welcomed heartily at all 
anniversaries, festivals, and other special gatherings. 

3. THE CRADLE ROLL The Sunday-school is no longer 
SUPERINTENDENT willing to wait until the children 
can toddle to it; it wants them 
at birth. The superintendent of the Cradle Roll should 
be a woman who can naturally love every baby in the 
community; one who can make every mother feel that 
her baby is the most welcome of all. She should secure 
the names of babies for her roll as soon as possible after 
their birth; issue to the parents a certificate of enrolment 
signed by the superintendent of the school and herself, 
and, if possible, by the pastor as w r ell; send to each 
member on her roll a suitable birthday remembrance; 
call on the mother and child occasionally; arrange socials 
for the parents; have herself, or suggest that the Sunday- 
school or town library have, a few good books on the care 
and training of children, which she should encourage the 
parents to borrow and read; where it is needed, provide 
classes for the instruction of mothers in the care of their 
little ones; be each mother's friend; and, finally, see 
that at the proper age the children are advanced to the 
Beginners' or to the Primary class of the school, and begin 
attending its regular sessions. 
The babies on the Cradle Roll are members of the 



142 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

Sunday-school and are entitled to every school privilege 
they can enjoy, such as Easter and Christmas treats. 
The school should be so conducted that they advance 
from one department to another until they become 
officers, teachers, or members of the Adult Bible class. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Did the singing in your school last Sunday aid in 
producing a spirit of reverence? If not, what was the 
reason? 

2. What might be done to make the music a more 
helpful part- of your school program? 

3. What steps should be taken to make the Home 
Department a useful part of your school's work? 

4. How may the members of the Home Department be 
led to take a greater interest in the school? 

5. How many children in your Beginners' or your 
Primary classes have been advanced from the Cradle Roll? 

6. Is the Cradle Roll Department in your school alive 
to its possibilities of service? 



LESSON V 

Equipment 

1, THE PLACE OF The ideal meeting-place is a building 
MEETING erected especially for Sunday-school 

purposes on a site adjoining a church. 
Lack of necessary funds often makes this impossible for 
smaller church organizations and Sunday-schools. Usually 
the school must use the church auditorium, a hall, or a 
public-school building. Wherever possible, the Sunday- 
school should meet in the same building in which the 
religious services of the community are held, or in a 
building adjoining it and communicating with it; since 
it is a religious school, it should be associated with the 
other religious services. 

The best room or rooms obtainable should be used for the 
school. A dark, damp room in a church basement is unsuit- 
able, especially for younger pupils. The public school- 
house affords a natural meeting-place for a Union Sunday- 
school in the country districts, until interest has developed 
to the point of organizing a church and erecting a building. 
1. Separate classes or departments. This is the ideal 
arrangement wherever the available space and the neces- 
sary expenditure can be provided. To avoid distractions 
during the lesson period, a separate room for each class 
or department is desirable. Yet, since there is inspiration 
in numbers, the assembly room should be large enough 
to accommodate the entire school. Where classrooms 
encircle the main room, they should be so arranged that 
every person can see the platform and distinctly hear 
what is said by the leader. The arrangement of the 



144 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 



classrooms and the method of closing them should be such 
that the classes can reach them and adjust the partitions 
with the least possible confusion and expenditure of time. 
Clear glass partitions are not satisfactory because they 
do not afford enough privacy. 

2. Making the best of a single room. To most schools, the 
ideal arrangement just described is an impossibility. They 

must meet in a church 
auditorium, or in a 
schoolroom without 
partitions to separate 
the classes during the 
lesson period. In the 
first case it is desirable 
that the back of every 
second or every third 
pew be hinged to turn, 
so that teacher and 
pupils face each other 
during the lesson; and 
in the second that the 
room be furnished 
with chairs which can 
be grouped for lesson 
study. Where there is 
no carpet, the legs 
of chairs should be 
tipped with rubber 
caps. 

The Primary pupils 
should always be 
separated from the 



e 


, , 






^ a ret: i 
PLATFORM 




/ 


PRIMARY CLAS. 




G/RLS* ! 
CLASS ! 






ADULT > 




] B/&LE CLASS nj 




BOYS 9 
CLASS 


YOUNG PEOPLE^ 
CLASS 






1 ^ 1 





Schoolroom Arranged for Five Classes. 
(Dotted lines indicate wires for curtains.) 



remainder of the school while the lesson is being taught, 
even if it is only in a corner which is curtained or screened. 
Where nothing else is possible, they may meet under a tree 
or a tent shelter or a brush arbor in the summer, and in a 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 145 

neighboring house in winter. Screens made of light wood, 
in three sections, and covered with burlap or similar mate- 
rial are very serviceable. On the side next to the Primary 
pupils, these screens may be decorated with suitable Bible 
pictures, and on the other side temperance and missionary 
charts may be hung. 

Uprights and horizontals made of piping, upon which 
sliding curtains may be hung, will serve to form enclosures 
for other classes. Where the room is used for other 
purposes during the week, as in the case of a hall or a 
schoolhouse, movable screens and other equipment that 
can be readily put away in a closet or box will help to 
convert the room into a useful, if not ideal, meeting- 
place. 

When the entire school, including the Primary Depart- 
ment, assembles in one room for the opening and closing 
exercises, the problem of arranging an order of service 
which will be helpful to adults and suitable for children 
requires careful attention. To allow small children to 
sing such hymns as " Jesus, Lover of My Soul," or "Just 
as I Am, without One Plea" when they cannot comprehend 
them, is quite likely to weaken their force at a later period 
when they should strongly appeal. On the other hand, 
to use only such hymns as the children can comprehend 
will make the service childish for adults. Hymns of joy, 
love, and praise, even though their words are not all 
understood, will be appreciated by the children. 

The platform lesson or review must be so simple that 
the children will understand it, and yet contain a lesson 
which will be helpful to adults. This is not so difficult 
as it sounds. Frequently a five-minute sermon to children 
in the church service is more helpful to adults than the 
deeper discourse which follows. So in the Sunda}^-school ; 
an illustration, an incident, a single point clearly made, 
may teach the children a new truth and at the same time 
impress that truth more strongly upon the adults. The 



146 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

lesson story may often describe a character which both 
the children and the adults may imitate. 

2. SUITABLE SEATS, Comfortable chairs, graduated in 
ESPECIALLY FOR size to suit the height of the 
PRIMARIES pupils, are most suitable. No 

child should be expected to remain 
quiet and attentive when physically uncomfortable. To 
seat a Primary child on a high chair from which his 
little feet must dangle for an hour is both unkind 
and unreasonable. If suitable chairs cannot be secured 
for the entire school, at least provide the Primary 
Department with small chairs. Chairs or benches 
arranged on steps or tiers are objectionable. All should 
be either on a level floor or on one only slightly inclined. 
Folding-chairs for small children are not satisfactory, as 
they fall forward when the child sits on the front edge. 
In a public-school room the desks make it difficult to bring 
the classes close together and avoid the disturbance of 
one by the other. The modern schoolhouse, however, 
often has adjoining rooms or a vestibule, of which advan- 
tage may be taken by providing chairs as needed. 

3. ATTRACTIVE WALLS The child receives stronger and 
—PICTURES, CHARTS more vivid impressions through 

the eye than through the ear, 
and the thing he sees he remembers longer than the thing 
he hears. In the average Sunday-school room, wall space 
is often wasted which might be teaching valuable lessons. 
Many pictures will both adorn and teach. Among such 
are the following: 

The Boyhood of Christ The Boy Christ and 

With the Doctors in the Temple "The Lord Is My Shepherd" — 

The Apostles' Ambition Rebuked by Taylor 

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria "Suffer Little Children to Come 

Christ and the Rich Young Ruler unto Me" — by Roederstein 

Raising the Widow's Son Christ Blessing Little Children — 

"Come unto Me" — by Hofmann by Tidey 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 147 

The Young Timothy with the The Good Shepherd — by Shields 

Scriptures — by Sant Daniel with the Lions — by Riviere 

The Light of the Bible — by Christmas Bells — by Blashfield 

Bisschop Healing the Sick Child — by 

Jesus Cleansing the Temple — by Gabriel Max 

Hole Christ and the Fishermen — by 

The Last Supper — by Da Vinci Zimmerman 

Golgotha — by Gerome Peter and John Running to the 

The First Easter Dawn — by Tomb — by Burnand 

Thomson One of His Disciples Whom Jesus 

Moses — by Michelangelo Loved — by Scheffer. 

Ruth and Naomi — by Calderon Head of St. Paul — by Raphael 

The Dedication of Samuel — by St. Paul at Rome — by Shields 

Topham The Apostle Paul — by Rembrandt 



Where little money is to be had, these can be bought 
in small sizes for a few cents each and neatly mounted. 
Then they can be changed from time to time, thus 
awakening fresh interest. 

Temperance and cigarette charts which show the effect 
of alcohol and tobacco, the cost of alcohol to the nation 
compared with the necessities of life, and the progress 
which the temperance cause is making, are helpful. 
Missionary charts that are both interesting and instructive 
can be secured at very reasonable prices. Care must 
be used in hanging and grouping pictures and charts, or 
the walls may look like patchwork. One picture hanging 
crooked, or one chart so insecurely fastened that a corner 
hangs down, will spoil the appearance of an entire room. 
For variety, charts should be taken down for a time and 
then rehung, their positions changed occasionally, and 
old ones replaced by new ones. A chart whose figures 
have become obsolete should never be left on the wall. 
Intermediate boys and girls will often be glad to make 
charts from drawings furnished by teacher or superin- 
tendent, and the experience will be valuable for them. 
Maps illustrating different portions of the Bible are 
needed. If mounted on rollers, they will not be in sight 
except when in use. 

Primary pupils should be provided with hooks upon 
which to hang hats and wraps, but the hooks should not 



148 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

be placed where they or the clothing will make the walls 
unsightly. Scribblings and crude drawings by the 
children should not disfigure the blackboard; and the 
blackboard work of one Sunday, if not to be used again, 
should be erased before the school next assembles. A 
clock which keeps correct time should be placed where 
every teacher can see it. A register showing the enrol- 
ment, with the attendance and offering for the day and 
for the same Sunday of the previous year, should be hung 
in a conspicuous place, and the records should be placed 
on it each Sunday before the school closes. 

4. LIGHT, AIR, The Sunday-school room should be 
CLEANLINESS light and cheerful, and kept scrupu- 
lously clean and neat. The ideal 
arrangement would provide for each pupil about 250 
square feet of air space. This would require for forty 
persons a room about 25' x 30' x 13^' in size. Where 
there is no artificial plan of ventilation, the air should 
come in at the top of the windows, and be directed toward 
the centre of the room by a board or sheet of metal fitted 
into the window frame. Where the Sunday-school 
session and the church service follow each other in the 
same room, the windows should always be opened during 
the intermission. Avoid drafts, hot or cold. The 
temperature of the room should be between 65 and 70 
degrees Fahrenheit. Truth often fails to reach its mark 
because the atmosphere of some Sunday-school room is 
so close or overheated. 

The light should be ample but not dazzling, and should 
come from the back, sides, or ceiling — never from the 
front. Tinted glass that throws brightly colored rays 
is not so desirable as a somewhat subdued light, but 
heavily coated panes of glass in a church which is shadowed 
by other buildings or by trees make the interior too dark 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 149 

for school purposes. Clear or frosted glass, with curtains 
to shut out too great brilliancy of light, is best. 

Every part of the room, as well as the furniture in it, 
should be kept free from dust. Books and papers should 
not be left lying about in disorder. Cleanliness is next 
to godliness, and " order is heaven's first law." 

5. FLAGS AND Every Sunday-school in America 

CLASS BANNERS should have at least one national 
and one conquest flag to decorate 
the platform or to float over the building while the school 
is in session. These flags may be either silk or bunting 
and the size should be in proportion to the building. A 
very small flag on a big building looks no worse than a 
very large flag on a little building. Smaller national 
and conquest flags will be found very useful and can be 
purchased at reasonable prices. These flags may be 
used to indicate the classes having a perfect attendance 
and to decorate the walls, desk, etc., on special occa- 
sions. 

A banner bearing the name and location of the school, 
to be used on picnics and in parades, or when the school 
meets with other organizations, will help in promoting a 
wholesome school pride. Class banners or pennants, 
bearing the class name or motto, placed upon the class 
seats or above them, or outside the classroom door, 
brighten the room and promote class loyalty. A banner 
may be used as a reward of merit for class attendance, 
offering, punctuality, order, lesson preparation, church 
attendance, etc. In fixing the points for estimating 
merit, care should be used to see that the smallest class 
of little children has the same opportunity to earn the 
banner as the largest class of adults. All banners will 
be more effective if used at intervals and on occasions, 
instead of all the time. 



150 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

6. STEREOPTICON, WITH BIBLE The stereopticon is 
AND MISSIONARY SLIDES coming into more gen- 

eral use in Sunday- 
school work, partly because it can be so easily handled, 
whether lighted by electricity, gas, or oil, but more 
because of the instructive slides which can now be obtained. 
A satisfactory lantern for use in a room of moderate size 
can be had for from twenty-five to fifty dollars. It is 
not necessary for any Sunday-school to purchase many 
slides, for excellent slides on missionary and other subjects, 
accompanied by clear descriptions, or even a prepared 
lecture, may be rented as desired. 

Stereographs of scenes in Bible lands are also procurable 
for use in stereoscopes. Of course these must be used 
in the class, but one stereoscope is sufficient for a small 
school, as it can be passed from class to class. Sufficient 
pictures to illustrate the lessons for an entire quarter may 
be purchased for about two dollars. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What changes would improve your Sunday-school 
room? 

2. Why should small chairs be used for the Primary 
children? 

3. What impression would be made on the minds of 
children by frequently seeing such a picture as " Christ 
Blessing Little Children "? 

4. Does the ventilation of your Sunday-school room 
cause drafts? Is the room kept in neat and attractive 
order? How can you help in improving these conditions, 
if improvement is needed? 

5. Suggest a few uses for small flags. 

6. How should stereopticon pictures or stereographs 
help in impressing the lessons? 



LESSON VI 
Inspiration 

Enthusiasm is necessary for successful Sunday-school 
work. A solitary individual is not enthusiastic, for enthu- 
siasm is a flame which smolders and dies if confined. 
What the draft is to the fire, inspiration is to enthusiasm. 
To inspire is to breathe in, to animate, to enliven. Where 
there is no inspiration, there is no enthusiasm; where there 
is no enthusiasm, there is no earnestness ; where there is no 
earnestness, there is no continuous effort. Therefore, seek 
inspiration. 

1. FROM CURRENT SUNDAY- No other organization 
SCHOOL LITERATURE has produced so great a 

volume of inspirational 
and instructive literature as the Sunday-school. Neces- 
sity and desire have called for help; ability and experience 
have responded. Denominational Sunday-school boards 
are v}dng with one another in their efforts to produce the 
best Sunday-school helps and lesson comments ; independ- 
ent associations and concerns are literally pouring out a 
flood of Sunday-school supplies; publishers are printing 
books on Sunday-school work in increasing numbers; 
daily and weekly newspapers are employing religious 
editors and regularly printing Sunday-school lesson helps. 
Most of this literature is excellent in quality and low in 
price. No one, therefore, need be without this source of 
inspiration. The difficulty of the task is to select and 
digest. In such selection observe two rules: the lesson 
comments should correctly interpret Scripture, and the 
suggestions for Sunday-school activities should be based 
on actual experience. 



152 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

A suggestion that looks well in print may not work well. 
A practical plan for one school may be an impractical 
theory for another. A method that one worker has found 
successful may end in failure for another. Schools have, 
different needs and possibilities; workers have different 
ideals and capabilities. Before a wise selection of methods 
can be made, one must know the needs and possibilities 
of the school and the capabilities of those who are to 
carry out the plans. 

Original methods especially planned to meet local needs 
and capabilities are best; but those who are most familiar 
with the methods of other successful workers will be most 
resourceful in planning, for the original method is fre- 
quently a combination or modification of other plans. 
There is no Sunday-school worker so capable that he 
cannot get help from the experience of others; there is 
no school so different from all others that its problems 
cannot be more easily solved if its leaders know something 
about the difficulties and the successes of other schools. 

He who would keep his heart burning and his hands 
effectively busy in the Sunday-school field, will read the 
best articles on Sunday-school methods and management 
that he can secure; and he will carefully preserve all 
valuable suggestions until he can use them, filing them in 
such a manner that they can be readily found. Whenever 
a practical suggestion or an interesting illustration is 
read, it should be cut out at once. For filing, a number 
of large manila envelopes will be found quite serviceable. 
A homemade box, somewhat larger than the envelopes, 
in which they may stand upright, will serve as a filing 
case. One envelope marked " Sunday-School Ideas" 
may hold all clippings on Sunday-school methods. There 
should be an envelope for each special day of the year — 
New Year's Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's 
Birthday, Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, etc. — 
in which to place clippings that relate to the observance 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 153 

of these days. For illustrations, one envelope for each 
of the following subjects will meet the requirements of 
Sunday-school officers and teachers; Bible, Biography, 
Brotherhood, Charity, Children, Christ's Love and Mercy, 
Christ's Mission, The Church, Courage — Moral, Courage 
— Physical, Cigarettes, Duty, Faithfulness, God's Love 
and Mercy, God's Wisdom, Strength and Justice, God's 
Presence, Heaven, Honesty, Human Weakness, Humility, 
Idols, Missions, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Purity, 
Sabbath, Sacrifice, Service, Sin, Temperance, Trust. 

A few minutes spent in clipping and filing from each 
Sunday-school publication read, as well as from other 
religious and secular papers, will preserve whatever is 
worth saving, and furnish an abundant supply of valuable 
hints and illustrations. Such a file may be made a perfect 
storehouse of helpful and inspiring suggestions. 

2. FROM VISITS OF SUNDAY" Every earnest, capable 
SCHOOL WORKERS Sunday-school worker is 

a source of inspiration. 
He is enthusiastic himself and diffuses his enthusiasm. 
Zeal and earnestness are contagious. As God took the 
spirit that was upon Moses and gave it unto the seventy 
elders, so the Holy Ghost will take the spirit that is upon 
one consecrated Sunday-school worker and give it unto 
many. 

Not every visitor to your school, however, should be 
invited to speak from the platform. Who does not 
remember some tiresome address he listened to when a 
child by a Sunday-school visitor w r ho "just rose to say a 
few words"? But when the experienced worker visits a 
school, he should be invited to speak; he should know 
what will help and should be able to say it briefly and 
pointedly. 

A visitor of the right sort may do even more by con- 
ference with officers and teachers than by public address. 



154 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

An experienced Primary teacher may confer with the 
teachers of that grade, or may conduct their classes while 
the regular teachers look on. A successful Adult Bible 
class worker may address adult teachers and classes; 
and so with other grades. At suitable intervals, mis- 
sionary and temperance speakers should be invited to 
address the school. Practical addresses on teacher 
training, the Cradle Roll, the Home Department, etc., 
will awaken or increase interest in these subjects. 

Whenever a speaker has aroused interest in a subject, 
an opportunity should at once be provided for that 
interest to express itself in action. The efforts of many 
able speakers are wasted because nothing is done. Unless 
action follows desire, desire weakens. Have pledges 
ready to use after a temperance address; be prepared to 
organize a teacher-training class after someone has 
spoken on that subject; have Home Department visitors 
ready to begin or enlarge their work when you invite 
someone to speak on that subject. That the inspiration 
of the address may bear fruit, there should be a definite 
plan of action prepared in advance. 

3. FROM ATTENDANCE AT There is helpfulness in the 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL CON- fellowship and in the en- 
VENTIONS, INSTITUTES, thusiasm usually found in 
AND SUMMER SCHOOLS Sunday-school conventions. 

A prayerfully planned and 
wisely conducted convention should deepen the spirituality, 
broaden the view, increase the efficiency, and strengthen 
the zeal of those who attend. To obtain these benefits, 
however, one must attend the convention in a sympathetic 
spirit, and not as a critical onlooker. 

Each school should send to its district convention dele- 
gates who will attend every session, make careful notes of 
everything said or done that would interest and help the 
home workers, and render a complete and enthusiastic 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 155 

report of the proceedings. An echo meeting of the 
convention may be held in the local church or schoolroom, 
at which those who were unable to attend the convention 
may hear the reports of the delegates and, whenever 
possible, an address by one of the convention speakers. 

Where there are several schools in the same neighbor- 
hood, a superintendents' and teachers' organization for 
conference on Sunday-school topics of mutual interest, 
or a union teachers' class for the study of the Sunday-school 
lesson or for systematic Bible study or for teacher training, 
may be found very helpful. Workers in several neighbor- 
ing Union Sunday-schools should meet together in group 
gatherings. Group organizations of Sunday-school 
workers in a locality will create a stronger fellowship and 
will inspire the workers to more zealous and efficient labor. 
The organization of these smaller units should not conflict 
with the work of the state or county associations, but 
should so increase the interest in Sunday-school work that 
the larger organizations will be strengthened. 

Preparedness is a key-word in the new Sunday-school 
movement. Sunday-school workers are trained, not born. 
Proper preparation for more efficient service is the aim of 
Sunday-school leaders. In the general plan of prepared- 
ness, institutes and summer schools have a prominent place. 
These schools afford opportunity for constructive Bible 
study and for careful study of the best Sunday-school 
methods. Their true aim should be to teach God's 
revealed will, and not merely Bible history, geography, 
or customs, useful as these are in their place. Through- 
out the ages, God has been revealing himself through his 
dealings with men, and the Bible is an inspired record of 
that revelation. Bible-study courses in Sunday-school 
institutes should lead those who take them to a better 
knowledge of God, to a greater love for him, to a 
stronger desire to render him more and better service. 

To meet the needs of those who are unable to attend 



156 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

these schools, some of the best courses in systematic Bible 
study can now be taken by correspondence, or outlines of 
constructive Bible study along the lines followed in these 
schools can be purchased at small cost. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why is inspiration needed in Sunday-school work? 

2. Describe a plan for preserving good Sunday-school 
ideas found in your reading. 

3. Has your school the best lesson helps it can afford? 
Are they adapted to the classes that use them? 

4. How can best use be made of visits from Sunday- 
school workers? 

5. How can you interest your workers in Sunday-school 
conventions? 

6. What advantages may be gained from group gather- 
ings of neighboring schools? 



LESSON VII 

Co-operation 

1. INCREASING THE Would you be likely to invite a 
ATTENDANCE stranger to dinner if you knew 

there would be no dinner, or a 
very poor one, in your home that day? Why invite 
strangers to Sunday-school if there is nothing attractive 
in the service? The first step in securing new members 
is to have something worth while to offer them. There 
should be a spirit of interest and of loyalty evident in 
both the school session and the school activities. It is 
not the Methodist, the Baptist, the Union Sunday-school, 
nor is it Mr. Smith's or Mrs. Robinson's school; but 
"our Sunday-school" — a school in which each member 
feels a share of the responsibility and claims some credit 
for the success. This kind of co-operation puts regularity 
into the attendance, order into the session, spirit into the 
singing, earnestness into the prayers, sincerity into the 
teaching, eagerness into the learning. A session of this 
kind will develop school pride; "our school" may not be 
the largest, but we will try to make it the best ; and after 
it becomes the best it may become the largest. 

After the school session has been made attractive by 
hearty co-operation, the next step in securing new members 
is to extend the invitation. Membership contests may be 
made quite successful. The school may be divided into 
two or more companies under captains or leaders, a time 
limit set, a referee or score-keeper (usually the secretary) 
appointed, and the contest begun with a service of prayer 
and ended with a grand rally. Such contests sometimes 



158 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

develop too keen rivalry, however, and new pupils enlisted 
in this way may prove hard to hold. 

Membership campaigns are better. The neighborhood 
may be divided into districts, a committee appointed to 
canvass each section, taking a Sunday-school census and 
inviting all who do not attend Sunday-school to become 
members. After the census is taken the names of those 
who do not attend any Sunday-school and who have not 
accepted the invitation should be handed to a central 
campaign committee, who will carefully and prayerfully con- 
sider each case and endeavor to find some person or some 
method that will induce these persons to join the school. 

Either of these methods should result in rapid and often 
large increase. Too frequently, however, the increase 
is not permanent. The loss is usually due to the absence 
of a continuing policy and not to any fault in the cam- 
paign plans. New members are brought into the school 
too rapidly for them to be assimilated; or there has been 
no comprehensive plan for holding the new members 
and they drift away almost as fast as they came. What 
to do after the campaign is not a matter for later con- 
sideration, but the movement for securing new mem- 
bers should include plans for interesting and helping 
them, and for transforming many of them into enthusiastic 
workers. Membership campaigns are not an end but a 
beginning; and should be a part of a definite, compre- 
hensive, continuing policy. 

A continuous gain in attendance because of constant 
co-operative effort and real drawing power on the part of 
the school, is far better than any spasmodic undertaking. 
Such a gain is as indicative of a healthy school as is 
normal growth of a healthy child. The school whose 
sessions are interesting and inspiring and whose members 
are loyal will not need membership campaigns and con- 
tests; or, rather, the campaign will be continuous instead 
of spasmodic. Sectional committees may be appointed 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 159 

to watch out for new families, look up absentees, and do 
missionary work among those who do not attend Sunday- 
school. 

A well-planned advertising campaign will aid materially 
in increasing the attendance, and will give the school a 
better standing in the neighborhood. Local papers, 
circulars, novelties, sign boards, bulletin boards may all 
be used. The advertising should aim to impress upon 
the community (1) the importance of the Sunday-school 
and of regular attendance; (2) the extent of the organized 
Sunday-school movement; (3) the fact that the Sunday- 
school is for adults as well as children; (4) the special 
advantages offered by the local school. Short, terse 
statements like the following should be used: 

"Seek ye first the The Sunday-Schools 

Kingdom of God" of America 

makes the have an enrolment 

Sunday-School of over 

even more important than 19 Million. 

the public school. Join the 

Sunday-School Army. 

If the Sunday-School 

is a good place for the 

Children 

it is a good place for the 

Parents. 

Join Our 

Adult Classes. 

Or these slogans will prove effective : 

"The Family School"; "The Friendly School"; "The 
School That Sings"; "The School for All"; "The School 
with a Welcome. " 

Besides paid advertisements, news items should be 
furnished from time to time to the local papers regarding 
any such Sunday-school developments as will interest the 
community in general. 



160 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

In every effort to find new members in localities with 
more than one school, care must be exercised not to draw 
from the membership of the other schools. The object 
must always be to reach those who do not already go to 
Sunday-school. A membership campaign in which all 
the schools unite in canvassing the community is very 
effective. When only one school engages in a campaign 
or contest it might, as a courtesy, be well to notify the 
other schools of its intention and of its purpose to reach 
only those who are not members of some school. If 
in the canvass persons are found who prefer another 
school, their names should be sent to the school of their 
choice. Sunday-schools are not competing organizations. 
In advertising in a locality where there is more than one 
school, never use comparative or superlative adjectives. 
State what a fine school you have, but never claim that 
it is better than any other or best of all. 

2. WORKERS' CON- A one-man school can never be a 
FERENCES Ml success, and if its leader is re- 

moved the school is often closed. 
The hearty co-operation that brings success is lacking 
where the planning is all done by one person or by a small 
coterie of persons, however efficient they may be. United 
interest, equal responsibility, division of labor — these bring 
permanent success. 

To develop real co-operation there should be frequent 
conferences of workers. These conferences should be 
held once a month or once in two months on a fixed night; 
and every worker should understand that he has a per- 
manent engagement for that evening. After the school 
session on Sunday is not the best time to transact even 
Sunday-school business; and it is not advisable to hold 
the conference after another evening meeting, unless it 
be in country districts where the workers must travel 
long distances. 



A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 161 

The following program is suggested for such a con- 
ference. Changes may be necessary to meet local 
conditions and needs: 

1. Hymns and prayer. 

2. Minutes of last conference read. 

3. Reports of officers, teachers, and committees. 

4. Unfinished business. 

5. New business. 

6. Suggestions for improving the school. 

7. Short address or paper on some phase of Sunday-school 

work. 

8. Social period. 

3. PRAYER SERVICE The Sunday-school is primarily 

FOR ALL AT CLOSE a sendee of study; but it is a 
OF SCHOOL religious school, and prayer is 

as necessary to the religious 
life as breath is to the physical life. How important 
it is, then, that pupils should be taught the value 
of prayer, as well as trained to a proper reverence in 
connection with it. The opening prayer of the session 
is frequently far too formal and spiritless, being offered 
for no other reason than that it is customary. Even 
where it is sincere and earnest, one prayer during a session 
will hardly impress the children with its need. A real 
prayer service at regular intervals, perhaps one each 
month, preferably during the closing period of the school, 
will emphasize the importance of prayer and unite the 
hearts of the workers as nothing else will. Several 
earnest but not long prayers should be interspersed with 
hymns and a short, suitable Scripture reading. The leader 
may be a teacher or other member of the school who has 
a real desire for its spiritual success. 

Secure perfect quiet during this service. The school 
is at the throne of grace, communing with God. See that 
every member assumes a reverent attitude. They may 
not all feel reverent at first, but an important lesson for 



162 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

them to learn is the proper attitude of reverence. No one 
can feel reverent while sitting upright and looking around 
the room. Do not ask anyone to pray who preaches, 
rhapsodizes, scolds, or laments in prayer. All Sunday- 
school prayers should be offered in simplicity. Forget 
to be formal. Talk with God. How simple are all the 
words and how short are all the sentences of the Lord's 
Prayer! J. Addison Alexander's directions for public 
prayers should be carefully studied by those who would 
pray in Sunday-school: "Let your prayers be composed of 
thanksgiving, praise, confession, and petition, without any 
argument or exhortation addressed to those who are 
supposed to be praying with you. Adopt no fixed forms 
or expressions, except such as are obtained from Scripture. 
Express your desires in the briefest, simplest form without 
circumlocution. Hallow God's name by avoiding its 
unnecessary repetition. Pray to God and not to man." 

The heaven-answered prayer is the heaven-inspired 
prayer, Rom. 8:26. When the Holy Spirit is enthroned 
in the heart, he directs the petitioner to ask for those 
things which God is waiting to give. 

QUESTIONS 

1. State the relative advantages of a membership 
contest, a membership campaign, and a gradual but 
constant effort to enlist new members. 

2. What steps should be taken toward interesting every 
person in the community in your Sunday-school? 

3. How can your workers' conference, if you have one, 
be made more interesting and helpful? What advantage 
might be expected from starting one, if none is now held? 

4. Why should there be an occasional prayer service 
in connection with the Sunday-school? 

5. Why should quiet and a reverent attitude be 
insisted upon during prayer? 



REVIEW OF PART III 

LESSON I 

1. What clear aims should be kept in view as to the 
purpose of every Sunday-school? 

2. What should Sunday-school workers learn from 
Sunday-school history? 

LESSON II 

3. What are the particular duties of a Sunday-school 
superintendent? 

4. How can he influence the spirit of his school? 

LESSON III 

5. What are the chief duties of the secretary? Of the 
treasurer? 

6. How can the librarian advance the interests of the 
school? 

LESSON IV 

7. How can the music in any school be made a most 
helpful feature? 

8. What may be accomplished by a Home Department 
superintendent? 

9. What are the duties of a Cradle Roll superintendent? 

LESSON V 

10. What adaptations are possible where a school has 
only one room in which to hold its sessions? 

11. What equipment should every school have in order 
to do the best work? 



164 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 



LESSON VI 

12. What may any worker gain from the reading of 
good Sunday-school literature? 

13. How should he put himself in touch with live and 
experienced Sunday-school workers? 

LESSON VII 

14. What plans would you recommend for use in 
increasing the attendance of the school? 

15. What is the advantage of a workers' conference 
and how should it be conducted? 



IV 

USING THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE 
THE KINGDOM 



LESSON I 

The School a Center for the Community Life 

1. DIRECTING The social needs of the community 

SOCIAL AFFAIRS should not be neglected by the 
Sunday-school. It is unfortunate 
when the church and the Sunday-school allow other 
organizations to do the work they should do. Even 
where Christian people are leaders in the social affairs 
of a community, they often act merely as individuals or 
as members of some organization other than the church 
and the school. Why should not the church building be 
the social center for every community? or where there is 
no church building, the public-school building or other 
meeting-place of the Sunday-school? Man is a social 
being; his nature craves companionship. Young people 
especially will follow the lines of least resistance and seek 
gratification for the social instinct where it can most 
readily be found. If the church and the Sunday-school 
do not furnish opportunities for social intercourse, it will 
be sought in less desirable places. 

1. A wholesome gathering-place. The need of some 
social center is apparent in every community — in the city 
neighborhoods as well as in the village communities and 
country districts. In many places the church and the 
schoolhouse are the only places available in which both 
young and old may gather for an evening of social enjoy- 
ment. If neither of these is open to them, there may 
remain only the street corner, or the saloon, or the country 
store, or the dance hall. Why should not the Sunday- 
school see that a proper place is provided and that arrange- 



168 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

ments are made for clean, wholesome games, and a 
general good time? Such a gathering-place will need 
some supervision, but it should always be sympathetic 
rather than strict. 

2. Varied social plans. A social union could be formed 
and regular meetings held as often as thought best. These 
might combine literary and social features, the program 
depending on the needs of the community and the ability 
of those who would take part. It might include debates 
and mock trials, as well as papers on current events 
written by the members. Indoor games should have 
their place on the winter schedule, with outdoor picnics, 
tennis tournaments, croquet matches, etc., in the summer. 
Sewing circles, cooking classes, glee clubs, reading circles, 
classes for the study of different subjects may be organized. 

Enjoyable literary evenings may be planned, for which 
the following are suggestions: an evening of poems read 
with accompanying illustrations by tableaux; evenings 
of readings, and recitations from different favorite authors ; 
an evening spent in impersonating historical characters 
and events. Several evenings might be spent in reading 
a good book of fiction, or the characters of the book might 
be impersonated by different persons while one reader 
gave the descriptive parts. Nature study should appeal 
to many: an evening with the birds, another with the 
animals, another with the wild flowers, each at its suitable 
season. All will enjoy musical evenings: the songs of 
different nations, the songs our mothers sang, etc. An 
occasional current events evening will help to keep the 
members intelligently informed about the news of the day. 

In order to carry the social feature into different homes, 
a trip around the world may be arranged. Select a number 
of homes not too far apart, each to represent a different 
country. Some simple decoration suggestive of the 
country chosen may be used, and light refreshments, 
consisting of some characteristic food product of the 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 169 

particular country, served, while someone reads an 
anecdote or description of the country or a poem written 
by one of its people, or sings one of its national songs. 
The travelers should gather at some central point and 
on scheduled time start in groups, each under a conductor 
or guide. The last house, of course, where all should 
wait until the last group had finished the journey, would 
be America. 

If these suggestions seem too difficult to carry out, 
remember that some thing can always be done where all 
cannot. In every community there are latent talents 
along social lines which should be developed for the 
general good. 

Where it does not seem practicable to organize a social 
union, a committee can be appointed and some plans 
carried out to afford the members of the school and the 
people of the community opportunities for social inter- 
course. When the Sunday-school awakens to the possi- 
bilities of this kind of service, and earnestly endeavors 
to do its part in the matter, it will find its enrolment 
increasing and a greater spirit of co-operation evident 
among its members. 

2. PROMOTING Normal development requires a 

CLEAN ATHLETICS variety of spiritual, mental, and 
physical activities. Young people 
will and should indulge in different athletic sports. Is it 
not decidedly better that these sports should be under the 
direction of Christian leaders than that our young people 
should be forced to find satisfaction for this natural 
craving by association with companions who know little 
and care less for purity of speech and action? 

Perhaps no other Sunday-school activity will require 
such tactful supervision as the athletics. If there is a 
man in the school or church capable of directing the 
school athletics — a man of consistent Christian living, 



170 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

who can be just in his judgments, firm in his decisions, 
youthful in spirit, and charitable to all — he should be 
asked to organize an athletic association for the young 
people of the school. The success of Sunday-school 
athletics will depend in a very large measure upon the 
efficiency of the leader and the adoption and impartial 
enforcement of wise rules and regulations. 

1. Sunday-school athletic teams. An athletic team 
should never be used merely as a bait to secure new 
members for the school. The purpose of an athletic 
association should be to offer the present members an 
opportunity to enjoy and to participate in clean sport. 
The teams should not merely represent the school; they 
should be composed of those who are really its members. 
Neither should the players be merely nominal members 
of the school, carried on the enrolment simply to strengthen 
the teams, but they should be regular in their attendance 
upon the school sessions. Profanity, vulgarity, and 
quarreling among the players should be strictly forbidden 
and the offender punished, if necessary, by being dropped 
from the team. Profanity and vulgarity should also be 
forbidden on any part of the grounds and the persistent 
use of either by an opposing team should be sufficient 
reason for ending the game. Every team invited to 
play with the school teams should clearly understand 
these rules before the game is arranged. 

2. Athletic leagues. A church or Sunday-school league 
for athletic contests, such as a baseball, a basket-ball, 
or a football league, must have very careful supervision, 
or the spirit of competition among the teams will engender 
a feeling of antagonism in the schools or churches repre- 
sented. When such a league is formed, rules governing 
the series of games should be carefully drawn and impar- 
tially enforced. The officers of the schools should see 
that these rules are submitted to them for approval or 
amendment. No one should be allowed to play on any 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 171 

team who is not already a member and a regular attendant 
of the school when the season opens; otherwise keen 
competition will tempt the team captains to bring in 
outside or semi-professional players. No player on a 
school team should receive any compensation whatever 
except the pleasure and profit of participating in whole- 
some sport. The desire to win is the root of all kinds of 
evil in Sunday-school athletic associations. " Fairness 
and courtesy always" should be the fixed rule, and no 
violation of the rule should be overlooked. Impress 
upon the members that it is more sportsmanlike to lose 
the game than to win by unfair methods, and that you 
expect them to get for their school a name for clean, fair 
playing. 

3. Junior teams. The Juniors must not be overlooked 
by the athletic association. There should be Junior or 
second teams organized and coached by the older members. 
These older members should be made to realize their 
responsibility as leaders of the Juniors, and the effect of 
their example on the younger boys. The Juniors should 
be permitted to use the athletic grounds, and their games 
should receive as much attention from the school officers 
as the contests of the older boys. With very few modi- 
fications, the rules already suggested for the athletic 
association should govern the Junior teams. 

3. OTHER OUTDOOR j n every Sunday-school there will 
ACTIVITIES k e ]3 y S w h cannot find a place 

on the athletic teams. For these, 
and also for the girls and older members, some other form 
of outdoor activity should be provided. The land is full 
of clubs for both boys and girls which feature outdoor 
life in its various phases, but in many of these the dis- 
tinctly religious note is lacking. Why should not the 
Sunday-school class be also the club? Why not make 
the class the center of the boy's or the girVs interest? The 



172 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

boy will have his club and the girl her circle somewhere. 
Why not as a part of the Sunday-school? If the class is 
organized, as suggested in Part II, Lesson VI, hikes, 
summer camps, bicycle trips, picnics, corn-raising contests, 
etc., may all be arranged. The hike may be only a 
Saturday afternoon tramp; the camping may be simply 
staying a day and a night in tents in a grove near 
home; the bicycle trip may be an evening ride together; 
and the picnic may be in a near-by woods; but they will 
all be enjoyed and they will offer the teacher oppor- 
tunities to see the pupils during the week and to become 
better acquainted with them and their habits. 

A class may be organized as a Boy Scout troop or as 
Camp Fire Girls. The troop, with its high standards of 
honor, dutifulness, and helpfulness, and the Camp Fire 
organization, with its companionship, study of nature, 
and high womanly ideals, appeal to boys and girls of the 
Intermediate grades. Under wise leadership the religious 
note may be made dominant in both organizations. 
Christ's precepts on love and service may be made the 
guiding principle of the Boy Scout, and the Camp Fire 
Girl may be taught to see God in nature and in everyday 
life. Of course to form the organizations the boys must 
have men teachers and the girls women teachers. Where 
this is impossible much may still be accomplished by 
following the plan of activities of these two clubs without 
adopting their name and form of organization. 

When a single class is too small to carry out any of 
these suggestions, two or more classes may unite. If only 
one or two teachers in a Sunday-school undertake this 
work and the other teachers do not show a similar interest 
in their classes, there will be a tendency for the pupils to 
leave their uninterested teachers and to join with the 
more fortunate ones. This of course should not be 
encouraged. Under such conditions a class may occa- 
sionally invite others to participate in its outdoor 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 173 

activities but only as guests for that time. Whenever 
these conditions prevail, it may be better to form a 
general Sunday-school club for pupils of a certain age 
and of the same sex. This may mean more work for the 
few teachers interested in these things, but it will help 
to prevent any jealousy among the classes. 

While all the activities suggested are helpful if properly 
conducted, yet the Sunday-school worker who would 
undertake this kind of service must not overlook the fact 
that "evil lurks beside all good." Outdoor activities 
should therefore have competent leadership. It is a 
mistake, for instance, to furnish the young people with a 
summer camp unless provision is also made for some 
Christian man or woman to be constantly at the camp, 
to direct the activities and to help create a proper moral 
atmosphere. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What seem to you to be the most important social 
needs of your community? 

2. What is your school doing to meet these needs? 

3. What do you think is the next forward step it should 
take in this line? 

4. What can a Sunday-school do to promote clean and 
fair athletic sports? 

5. What dangers will have to be avoided in promoting 
athletics? 

6. What other outdoor activities may a Sunday-school 
encourage? 



LESSON II 

The School Promoting Temperance, Purity, and 
Patriotism 

1. IMPROVING TEMPERANCE The Sunday-schools of 
CONDITIONS America may be justly 

proud of the part they 
have taken in the great crusade against intemperance. 
Education has been the keynote of their campaign. 
They have endeavored to instruct their members regarding 
the evils of alcoholism and its effect upon both soul and 
body; they have presented temperance as a duty to God 
and to men; they have urged sobriety as a national need 
and an economic necessity; they have helped to spread 
the glad tidings of temperance victories. Largely as the 
result of their efforts with the children of the last genera- 
tion, there are now a great number of adults in the land 
who are convinced of the evils of intemperance and 
determined to overthrow the traffic in alcoholic liquors. 
Already they have won many victories. Considerably 
more than three-quarters of the area of the United States 
is dry, and more than one-half of the population is living 
in territory that is free from the curse of the legalized 
saloon. Nearly every month adds some new section or 
state to the dry list. 

But the end is not yet; nor is the work of the Sunday- 
school finished. The liquor traffic is entrenching itself 
in the remaining strongholds, and even in dry sections 
temperance must still be taught, for the enforcement of 
laws won after so long a struggle depends upon the 
temperance sentiment of the people of the community. 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 175 

1. Temperance instruction. Each Sunday-school should 
have a temperance society, or at least a temperance 
secretary, who will provide for and oversee temperance 
instruction in the school. This society or secretary may 
have charge of the general exercises on the quarterly 
temperance Sunday or more frequently, if desired. They 
should prepare for these occasions an educational program 
in which they should endeavor to have the pupils, 
especially the young men, take a prominent part, that 
they may become accustomed to taking their stand for 
temperance. They should also endeavor to have every 
member of the school who has reached a suitable age, 
sign a pledge not only to abstain himself but also to do 
everything in his power to help other people to live 
temperate lives and to destroy the liquor traffic. If 
some member of the society or school will regularly make 
clippings from the daily and temperance papers, as well 
as from religious journals and from the best magazines, 
there will always be on hand material for the temperance 
day program. 

World's Temperance Sunday, the first Sunday in 
November, should always be observed with fitting exer- 
cises. In some communities the Sunday-schools unite 
in a temperance rally in a large hall, the schools meeting 
in their own buildings and marching in a body to the 
hall. Choruses, recitations, responsive readings, speeches, 
pledge-signing, etc., make up the program for these 
occasions. 

2. Anti-cigarette teaching. Cigarette smoking has be- 
come so great an evil among young people, leading fre- 
quently to intemperance and kindred evils, that the 
Sunday-schools are now including it with intemperance. 
Anti-cigarette days should be held in the school, at which 
time some competent person, preferably a Christian 
physician, should explain the effects of cigarette smoking 
on body, mind, and soul, and emphasize the fact that 



176 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

excessive smoking unfits one for many of life's activities. 
The members of the school should also be asked to sign 
anti-cigarette pledges. 

2. PROMOTING PURITY OF THOUGHT, The subject of 
SPEECH, AND CONDUCT immorality is 

not an easy 
one for the Sunday-school to handle; but responsibilities 
must not be shirked, no matter how difficult the task. 
Young people, even though nurtured, trained, and pro- 
tected ever so carefully, are sure to come in contact with 
vice and its allurements. Few children pass through 
their first year in school without meeting the school-yard 
degenerate. Frequently the first and for a long time the 
only information they receive regarding the origin of 
life is from this vulgar, untruthful source. Children 
cannot be kept in absolute ignorance of the most wonderful 
facts regarding their own existence. Why, then, should 
they not have the truth? Judge Lindsey says, "I am 
convinced that this whole moral question among children, 
instead of being a question to be avoided, is by far the 
most important problem that concerns the American 
home." 

Sexual instruction differs from all other teaching in this 
essential: that while the teaching of any other subject aims 
to arouse curiosity and a desire to know more, sexual instruc- 
tion must only satisfy curiosity, and never awaken it 
Children are entitled to an honest and candid answer 
(but not always a complete one) to every question they 
ask on the subject, but no question should be anticipated. 
Herein lies the grave danger and the great difficulty that 
confronts the Sunday-school when it would undertake any 
work along personal purity lines. 

1. Helping parents. Ideal sexual instruction is not 
given to classes or groups but in face-to-face, heart-to- 
heart conferences between father and son, mother and 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 177 

daughter. What the home leaves undone, however, the 
Sunday-school may find its duty to undertake. Any 
talks on sex hygiene to groups of children below the age 
of fourteen will probably do more harm than good. The 
best that the school can do for children below that age 
will be through the teacher's personal interview with 
individual members of the class, and before any such 
conversation the consent and co-operation of the parents 
should be sought. The wise teacher will readily find 
opportunities in teaching the regular lesson to refer 
naturally and simply to the laws of life so beautifully 
planned for us by our Heavenly Father. 

The school should seek to awaken the parents to their 
responsibility and endeavor to enlighten them as to the 
best methods of instructing their own children. Have 
parents' meetings, with the fathers and mothers separate 
to insure frankness and avoid embarrassment. The 
subject should be presented to them by a thoroughly 
competent person, in a simple and direct manner, frankly 
placing the responsibility upon them, and giving them 
whatever instruction is necessary to enable them properly 
to teach their children. 

2. A wise plan of campaign. One Sunday-school suc- 
cessfully conducted a series of such meetings, inviting 
other schools in the district, and so making the meetings 
neighborhood affairs. First a meeting of fathers, and 
another of mothers, was held, in each of which a physician 
explained the danger of perverted sexual knowiedge, 
and told in simple terms how to instruct small children. 
At these same meetings someone explained candidly just 
what the school planned to do for the larger boys and 
girls. Meetings for the older boys and girls were then 
held, addressed by Christian physicians. For the boys 
the dean of a medical college and the physical director 
of public schools were secured; for the girls the chief 
woman surgeon in a women's hospital, an author of sex 



178 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

hygiene books for parents and girls, and a lecturer on 
this subject at the Young Women's Christian Association. 

3. INCULCATING CHRISTIAN Surely the Sunday- 

PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP school should be 

more than pas- 
sively loyal to the state that protects it. The great 
national need is for a militant Christian citizenship, 
composed of men and women who will take a deep interest 
and a dominant part in the political affairs of their local 
district, the state, and the nation. In too many com- 
munities the best people leave these things to the manage- 
ment of evil or unscrupulous persons. In many other 
localities a few earnest Christians are compelled to be 
brains and conscience for the majority, who seldom give 
the faithful ones any help or encouragement. It is time 
the Sunday-school realized this national need and applied 
the machinery of its well-equipped organization to the 
production of stalwart Christian citizens. 

1. Using special days. Lincoln's Birthday, Washing- 
ton's Birthday, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of 
July, Labor Day, Arbor Day, Columbus Day, Thanks- 
giving, all furnish opportunities for the presentation of 
this subject. These days, or at least the more important 
of them, should be observed with programs that seek to 
instill love of country, to arouse patriotism, and to impress 
personal responsibility for public affairs and conditions. 
Open-air exercises for the entire community, planned and 
conducted by the school, may be held on some of these days. 
When a Sunday-school has many nationalities repre- 
sented among its members, the need of inculcating Chris- 
tian patriotism and citizenship is even greater and the 
problem more difficult. In such a school some instruction 
regarding the fundamental principles of our American 
government and institutions would be very helpful and 
entirely consistent with the object of the Sunday-school. 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 179 

A week-night class in citizenship might be conducted, or 
a Junior Republic organized with legislative, executive, 
and administrative officers patterned after our system of 
government. Such an organization would give a practical 
demonstration of the republican form of government 
and would satisfy the natural desire of Intermediate 
pupils for clubs and similar organizations. 

2. Preserving the Sabbath. The Sunday-school organi- 
zation should protect the Christian Sabbath by con- 
sistently practicing and teaching Sabbath observance, 
and vigorously protesting against any desecration of the 
day. The Sabbath is America's greatest asset. " Re- 
member the Sabbath day to keep it holy" is the only 
commandment that begins with " Remember." It seems 
that God foresaw that men would forget his holy day. 
Today evil men are making every effort to break through 
the safeguards of the Sabbath, and Christians who are 
struggling to save the day are meeting with bitter opposi- 
tion. Many temptations are offered even Christian people 
to relax their faithful observance of the day. The Sunday 
newspaper, the automobile, the Sunday excursion, the 
public parks, Sunday visiting — all are means to entice 
the unthinking Christian. The Sunday-school cannot 
live if the Christian Sabbath is lost. Self-preservation, 
if nothing else, should prompt the school to protect the 
day by instruction, by training, by influence, by moral 
suasion, by the example of its leaders, and when necessary 
by legal force. 

3. Supporting law enforcement. The Sunday-school 
organization should use its influence with the officials of 
the community to have every law against intemperance, 
immorality, and Sabbath desecration enforced. Many 
states now also have laws against selling or giving ciga- 
rettes or cigarette material to minors. The school should 
support and encourage every official who conscientiously 
endeavors to do his duty, and should report to a higher 



180 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

officer any wilful and persistent failure of duty on the 
part of any official. Without taking sides in party 
politics, it should exert its influence for the election of 
officials who will enforce the law. It may well join in 
appealing to the legislators for the enactment of laws 
necessary for the moral improvement of the state. 

4. Meeting popular errors. Among other national dan- 
gers against which the Sunday-school should take a firm 
stand are the many false prophets who teach doctrines 
which, if unopposed, will overthrow democracy and 
destroy religious liberty. Thousands of missionaries of 
Mormonism, of Russellism, of Christian Science, are 
scattered over the country, propagating their erroneous 
and harmful doctrines and systems, dishonoring God, 
repudiating or perverting the Bible, and threatening 
Christianity. No Sunday-school officer or teacher can 
know just when one of such false teachers will appear in 
the community and by seductive arguments win some of 
the school members. The best protection against false 
teaching is careful instruction in Bible truths. There 
are times, however, when one or another of these false 
doctrines needs to be faced, and its harmful teaching 
met by circulating literature which unmasks its error. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Suggest a suitable program for temperance Sunday. 

2. What should a Sunday-school undertake in the way 
of sex instruction? 

3. How will such efforts need to be most carefully 
guarded? 

4. State a few practical methods for inculcating Chris- 
tian patriotism. 

5. What can be done in your community to promote 
Sabbath observance? 

6. Is your personal influence always on the right side? 



LESSON III 
The School a Fruitful Part of the Church 

1. PROMOTING CHURCH "Every member of the school 

ATTENDANCE in the church service and 

every member of the church 
in the school session," is the new slogan of the Sunday- 
school. It is, however, a return to the old Hebrew 
custom. The forenoon service of the Jewish synagogue 
was for worship, the afternoon service for study. Attend- 
ance upon only one of these services was not considered 
sufficient. It was the duty of the parents to take the 
children from one service to the other; and it was a 
familiar saying among them that "the righteous go from 
the synagogue to the school, from the house of worship 
to the house of stud} r ." 

The church and the Sunday-school are dependent one 
upon the other. Luther said, " Young children and 
scholars are the seed and source of the Church "; and 
again, "For the Church's sake Christian schools must 
be established and maintained, for God maintains the 
Church through the schools." 

The Sunday-school needs the church as much as the 
church needs the school. Since the school gathers 
together those of all ages for the study of God's Word, 
it should be the place where more souls are won for the 
Master than in any other department of the church. 
To conserve this work and to carry it forward to its highest 
development, church attendance and membership must 
be urged upon each pupil. 

If there is a genuine spirit of evangelism in the school, 



182 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

and pupils are continuously giving their hearts to God, 
there will be little difficulty in creating and sustaining a 
warm interest in the church services. In too many schools 
the teachers seldom ask their pupils to make a definite 
decision for Christ. It seems to be the custom to wait 
for the annual Decision Day or the annual church revival 
to approach the members personally about this matter. 
Far too many teachers are content to keep up their 
formal teaching without expecting any real work of divine 
grace to take place in their pupils' hearts. 

A genuine consecration, with a full surrender to Christ, 
on the part of the teachers, would awaken in them deep 
interest in the spiritual welfare of their pupils, and thus 
help to form a natural movement from the school to the 
church, instead of the present tendency of so many 
pupils to leave the school and remain outside of the 
church. The teacher should act as the spiritual leader 
of the class, looking after each member individually, 
showing interest in his week-day activities, investigating 
his home environment, encouraging him to attend church, 
and seeking a reason for any continued absence. The 
teachers more than the superintendent should hold 
themselves responsible for the attendance of pupils upon 
the church service. 

The school and church services should be correlated; too 
frequently there is no bond of union between them. 
The Sunday-school chorus may be assigned a part in the 
church service; a five-minute sermon to the children 
would help to hold their interest; a Sunday-school day 
should be appointed annually or oftener by the church, 
when the school has a prominent part in the service and 
the pastor preaches an appropriate sermon; reservations 
may be occasionally made in the church for classes to sit 
together, especially for organized Intermediate or Adult 
classes; the teachers of younger pupils may encourage 
attendance and promote good order by sitting with their 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 183 

pupils, or with such of them as do not attend with their 
parents. 

The members of the official boards of the church should 
take an active interest in their schools. Where the church 
board and the school's leaders are largely the same 
individuals, there is little danger of friction between the 
two. The church official who says he is interested in the 
school and yet permits the children to meet in a poorly 
lighted and badly ventilated room, with meager equip- 
ment, while he favors spending all available funds to 
improve the church auditorium, is as consistent as the 
Sunday-school officer who declares that he is interested 
in the church and does not attend its services. The 
church board should appoint a Sunday-school committee 
to whom the superintendent can look for help, encourage- 
ment, and advice; and the school should be represented 
on the church board by its superintendent or other 
appointed representative. 

In some places the church and school services are 
combined, with satisfactory results. The order for this 
combined service follows these general lines: one-half- 
hour opening devotional service, one-half -hour lesson 
period, one-half-hour sermon, closing hymn and bene- 
diction. 

Loyal school officers and teachers will do everything 
within their power to encourage church attendance, both 
by example and precept; they will never make the 
mistake of inviting the pupils to attend a service which 
they do not attend themselves. The regular church 
services should be announced in the Sunday-school; 
such announcements are more important than those 
advertising a school entertainment or excursion. Church 
attendance may be reported and recorded with Sunday- 
school attendance; and attendance at the church service 
may be made one of the important points in any merit 
system which the school adopts. 



184 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

2. ESTABLISHING A CHURCH Frequently the first 

WHERE NONE NOW EXISTS step toward establish- 
ing a church is to or- 
ganize a Sunday-school. In this regard the methods 
of the American Sunday-School Union are especially 
practical. Each of its missionaries, located in every part 
of the United States, makes himself acquainted with the 
spiritual needs of the outlying districts in every part of 
the field for which he is responsible. He then goes where 
the need exists, visits every home in the neighborhood, 
discusses the need of a Sunday-school and the advantage 
of uniting all upon a union but evangelical basis, and 
secures the use of a schoolhouse or other meeting-place. 
Gathering the people there, he effects an organization, 
aiding them in their choice of officers and teachers and 
in the securing of suitable supplies. By correspondence 
and visitation he assists the people in developing from 
such a beginning an efficient and fruitful school. Arrange- 
ments may then be made with some minister in the 
region to preach at stated intervals and, if the interest 
develops and the community grows, an organized church 
finally results, of such denomination as the people them- 
selves agree upon. 

Some of the stronger denominations have worked along 
similar lines, establishing denominational, rather than union, 
schools out of which it is expected that churches will grow. 

Thus in every part of our land churches are now in 
operation which grew out of Sunday-schools started in 
public schoolhouses, sod or adobe houses, shacks, brush 
arbors, barns, railroad stations, and similar make-shift 
meeting-places. 

Unfortunately a spirit of competition which has existed 
to some extent among denominational workers has 
resulted in many new communities being over-churched. 
On the other hand, there are vast numbers of small com- 
munities without any Sunday-school or other religious 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 185 

service, and many church buildings that have been 
abandoned. 

All over the land interest in community betterment is 
growing. If this awakening is to accomplish permanent 
results, the religious life must be cared for. Each unused 
church building should appeal to the people of the com- 
munity to make it a neighborhood asset. Every com- 
munity should at least have a Sunday-school, and such a 
school is possible wherever a few earnest people are ready 
to do their best. 

In order that permanent church work may develop 
out of any Sundaj^-school, there must be a spirit of hearty 
co-operation on the part of the leaders of the community; 
the school must care for the social needs of the community, 
as has been shown in Part IV, Lesson I; and above all 
it must believe in and teach the great fundamental 
principles of Christianity: sin, repentance, regeneration, 
redemption through Christ. The school which emphasizes 
the central features of Christian truth and has a harmo- 
nious working membership is likely to grow into a 
successful church. Those who love Christ most will be 
willing, for the sake of the whole community and the 
advance of his Kingdom, to keep their denominational 
preferences in the background and unite upon a basis of 
the essential truths and the general welfare. The school 
that seeks to serve the community by applying the 
principles of Christianity to every department of com- 
munity life — its social needs, its recreations, its education, 
its homemaking, its occupations, as well as its spiritual 
culture — will be likely to grow into the larger organization 
that the community needs. 

3. BUILDING UP CHURCH MEMBERSHIP Decision Day 
FROM THE SCHOOL— DECISION DAY presents a 

favorable op- 
portunity for presenting Christ as a personal Saviour. 
Of course the conscientious teacher is always watching for 



186 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

an opportunity to secure personal decision for Christ; 
but a special day set aside for that specific purpose, 
following a period of earnest prayer, frequently adds the 
emphasis necessary to obtain the desired result. 

While God is not limited to any age in saving a life, 
there are certain years when conditions are most favorable 
for making life decisions. It is in the impressionable 
teen years, especially, that habits become fixed, ideals 
are formed, altruistic emotions are awakened, and impor- 
tant life decisions are made. This is the strategic time 
for the Sunday-school. If a boy or girl passes on from 
the teen years without having made a definite surrender 
to Christ, there is much danger that he or she will move 
through a period of religious indifference to a condition 
where God is shut out and the life is ready to yield to 
the greater temptations of manhood and womanhood. 

One of the most important phases of Decision Day 
is to be found in the weeks of preparation by prayer which 
should precede it. The school is not fully ready for 
Decision Day until there is a burden on every teacher's 
heart for the unsaved ones in his or her class. When the 
teacher is eager for souls, the Holy Spirit will clearly 
direct as to the best ways of approaching the pupils. 

Personal work is likely to accomplish much more than 
an appeal to the entire class. A call at the home of a 
pupil, an invitation to spend an evening at the home of 
the teacher, personal conversation, tracts, letters — any 
or all of these may bring the subject to the thoughtful 
attention of the pupil in advance of the day itself. 

That all may work in harmony, let the superintendent 
call a conference of the teachers some weeks in advance. 
After united prayer, plans should be made for the service 
on Decision Day, as well as for the preparations leading 
up to it and the conserving of its results. 

Whether any public announcement should be made of 
Decision Day depends largely on local conditions. Such 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 187 

an announcement may serve as a warning to some to 
remain away; on the other hand, it may give conscientious 
young people the time necessary in which to prepare for 
a definite and intelligent decision. 

Palm Sunday is regarded by many Sunday-school 
workers as a favorable date, the approaching Easter adding 
emphasis to the appeal. Both a spring and a fall decision 
day are observed in some schools. It may be better not 
to fix on any calendar Sunday, but to give an opportunity 
for decisions at a time when the lessons for a number of 
Sundays lead to a point where the pupils may be naturally 
expected to give themselves to Christ. 

If the proper preparation has been made, there will be 
an atmosphere of reverence and expectancy in the Sunday- 
school session, generated by earnest and united prayer. 
Such an atmosphere invites the presence of the Holy 
Spirit in convicting power. Dispense with, or shorten, 
the class study of the lesson; sing hymns that tell of the 
love of Christ;' have an effective invitation hymn sung 
as a solo; have the pastor or the superintendent, or other 
suitable person, present the matter of immediate and 
definite decision for Christ, dwelling on God's mercy, 
Christ's love, the need of Christ in every life, the vital 
importance of making a decision, the fact that enlistment 
for Christ is a thoroughly manly or womanly step for 
any young person to take. Make the appeal to the will 
rather than to the emotions. A few brief testimonies 
given by members of the school whose lives are known to 
ring true, may be helpful. Allow a few moments for 
personal work by the teachers, after which the decision 
cards should be signed during silent prayer. 

Those signing cards should be asked to remain to meet 
the pastor or superintendent for encouragement and 
brief counsel. If the school session is followed by a short 
prayer service (as described in Part III, Lesson VII) 
these beginners in the Christian life may there find 



188 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

opportunity, if they will, to give public expression to 
their new purpose in prayer or testimony. 

The conservation of the results of Decision Day is quite 
as important as the day itself. No plans for its obser- 
vance are complete unless they include the care and 
oversight of the new disciples of Christ. Everyone 
making a decision for Christ should be encouraged to 
unite with the church as soon as the opportunity is 
afforded. Special classes for instruction in fundamental 
Christian truths and in the duties of young Christians 
should be formed under the leadership of the pastor or 
the best fitted Christian worker. A gift by the church 
or Sunday-school of a good Bible, or of some particularly 
helpful book, to each one making the decision would be 
most fitting and calculated to bear fruit for many a 
year to come. Forbearance, patience, charity should be 
shown to young Christians. Errors of judgment should 
be overlooked and mistakes excused. Loving and per- 
sistent effort should be put forth to promote their growth 
in Christian character and their progress in Christian 
service. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What proportion of your Sunday-school members 
attend the church service regularly? Why is the pro- 
portion not larger? 

2. What may be done to strengthen the bond of union 
between your church and school? 

3. What is necessary in order that a Sunday-school may 
develop into a church? 

4. Prepare a suitable program for Decision Day in 
your school. 

5. How should the work of Decision Day be prepared 
for? How followed up? 



LESSON IV 

The School at Work for the Whole Kingdom 
of God 

Every Sunday-school should realize that it is a part of 
the Church Universal; that it belongs to a great world 
movement for the spread of the Gospel. It must do its 
part, however small and humble, in fulfilling its Lord's 
commission to "make disciples of all the nations." The 
more isolated its location, the more important is it for its 
own spirit and progress that it should enlarge its vision, 
cultivate outside relationships, learn what others are doing, 
and lend a hand. 

1. OUTSIDE A large number of the small rural 

RELATIONSHIPS schools, as well as those in con- 
stantly shifting communities, like 
lumber and mining camps, are on a union basis. These 
need to keep in touch with the nearest missionanj of the 
American Sunday-School Union, reporting regularly to 
him and receiving in return stimulus from his correspond- 
ence and visits. Each of these schools should join heartily 
in the plan of group gatherings. In these, as many members 
from each of a number of neighboring schools as are able 
come together for a day of conference and instruction 
regarding Sunday-school work. For information regard- 
ing this plan write to the American Sunday-School Union 
for its free leaflet on " Group Organization." 

Every Union Sunday-school will also have its outlook on 
the whole Kingdom of God broadened by its use of the lit- 
erature which the American Sunday-School Union provides. 
Especially is this true of its journal, the " Sunday-School 



190 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

World," which constantly treats, with many illustrations, 
such topics relating to general Sunday-school and mis- 
sionary work as would naturally appeal to workers in 
the smaller schools. 

Denominational schools should hold the same close 
relations to the Sunday-school board of the denomina- 
tion to which they belong. 

All schools should recognize their membership in the 
county Sunday-school organization and thus, through 
state, international, and world's organizations, in the 
whole great Sunday-school movement. It is a mistaken 
policy for any Sunday-school to hold aloof because it 
thinks it is being drawn in merely to be allotted its assess- 
ment toward the work of its state association. What 
a Sunday-school gets from such membership depends 
entirely upon the extent of its co-operation. State and 
county conventions, institutes, and summer schools, will 
benefit a school just so far as it is represented in them; 
and freely circulated pamphlets, treating different lines 
of Sunday-school progress, will be of value only as they 
are secured and studied. 

2. TEACHING As we have already seen in Part III, Lesson 
MISSIONS I ? the aim of the Sunday-school is to enlist 
and train followers of Christ. To impart 
Bible knowledge, to win life decisions, to develop Christian 
character — these are the most important aims, but not all. 
To train Christ's soldiers for the conquest of the world by 
his methods of love — this is the true Sunday-school pro- 
gram. To train for the Church a new generation who 
believe that " Christ is either Lord of all or he is not Lord 
at all"; that "the whole business of the Church is to 
preach the Gospel to the whole world"; that "the more 
religion we export, the more we possess"; that "the life 
and prosperity of the home church depend upon the extent 
and energy with which she prosecutes her foreign mis- 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 191 

sionary enterprise" — nothing short of this will answer for 
our Sunday-school ideal. Where shall we find help for its 
accomplishment? 

1 . From the Bible. Most of the New Testament and parts 
of the Old Testament can be taught as they should be only 
when they are given a missionary application. The Bible 
itself contains the missionary principles in which every 
school should be grounded. The feeding of the multi- 
tudes, the parting commission of the risen Lord, the 
growth of the early Church — in these and in many other 
parts of Scripture we learn the divine purpose and plan 
regarding the spread of the Kingdom. If teachers them- 
selves have a missionary vision, their classes will be sure 
to catch it from them through their teaching. 

2. The study of missions. The story of missions up-to- 
date is but the continuation of the work which Christ 
and the Apostles began. Use missionary facts and inci- 
dents as illustrations of Scripture teachings. Every teacher, 
especially of boys and girls in the teen age, should draw 
freely upon a scrapbook or set of envelopes in which are 
filed clippings from modern missionary magazines and 
similar sources. Such publications as "The World Out- 
look" now put missionary news in most attractive and 
striking form. 

3. Supplemental work. Missionary instruction may be 
given either as supplemental work in classes that are ready 
for it, or as a part of the general program for the whole 
school. In either case the work should not be done by 
teacher or superintendent alone. Assignments should be 
made to different members of the class or school. "The 
Missionary Speaker" contains 250 selections suitable for 
readings and recitations. "Missionary Programs," Nos. 
1, 2, and 3, each contains six large pictures, for platform 
use, with accompanying descriptive material. They 
illustrate both home and foreign mission subjects, such as 
"Boys of the Street," "Why the Immigrants Come," 



192 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

"The Dog That Preached a Missionary Sermon," 
"Mohammedan Women," "John G. Paton, Missionary 
to the New Hebrides," etc. For prices and information 
write to the American Sunday-School Union, or to the 
Missionary Education Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, 
New York City. 

Such missionary teaching ought to be systematically 
planned, and therefore needs leadership. In many schools 
a Sunday-school missionary society is organized, enrolling 
as members all officers, teachers, and pupils who will 
join, meeting usually once a month, its exercises providing 
a missionary program for a part of the school session. A 
simpler method is to appoint a small missionary committee, 
consisting of an officer or a teacher and one or more older 
pupils. This committee should plan for the missionary 
features of the school's work and submit its plans for 
approval to the workers' conference. 

3. MISSIONARY The interest awakened by missionary 
GIVING teaching should have its outlet in 

service. The highest possible form is 
the dedication of the life. James Chalmers, the heroic 
missionary to New Guinea, was fifteen years old when he 
heard his Sunday-school superintendent read to the school 
a letter from a missionary. Then and there he decided 
that, if God would open the way, he would become a 
foreign missionary. Eliza Agnew, the devoted missionary 
teacher of Ceylon, known as "the mother of a thousand 
daughters," made her decision when only eight. Such 
early decisions are exceptional, and pressure should never 
be brought upon young people to make public declarations 
for which they are not fully prepared; yet where should 
we expect to see missionary interest awakened if not 
among boys and girls at the most impressionable period 
of life, when the heroic and the ideal make their mQst 
powerful appeal? 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 193 

While no gift of money can serve as a substitute when 
Christ really calls for the life, yet only one here and 
another there is called to be a foreign missionary, while 
all are called to pray for and give to missionary work. 
Every time we offer the Lord's Prayer, with a real appre- 
ciation of its meaning, we pray for missions. "Thy 
Kingdom come." 

As we learn, however, about present-day missionary 
conditions, and especially as we become personally 
interested in some missionary station and its workers, 
our prayer changes from the general to the definite and 
at once assumes new directness and earnestness. Infor- 
mation is a great stimulus to prayer — and to giving as 
well. 

Many small schools — and larger ones also — think they 
have hard work to provide for their own expenditures 
and cannot undertake to do more. But it is surprising 
how the situation can be transformed when information 
feeds interest and scriptural methods of giving are introduced. 
Rev. George H. Trull, one of the wisest leaders in deep- 
ening missionary interest in Sunday-schools, in his "Mis- 
sionary Methods for Sunday-School Work," well says on 
this point: "In the Sunday-school the primary aim of 
missionary education should not be to secure the chil- 
dren's money, but to give them information that will 
arouse interest, deepen their spiritual lives, and lead to 
prayer, benevolence, and activity. However needy a case 
may be, the logical order of information, prayer, benevo- 
lence, should never be reversed or altered." 

Let there be a regular time for missionary offerings, 
at least monthly. Let these offerings be kept separate, 
regularly reported, and their disposition voted by the 
school on the recommendation of its missionary com- 
mittee. Denominational schools will give theirs chiefly 
to denominational missionary objects, home and foreign, 
but they should not forget such united enterprizes as the 



194 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT 

American Bible Society, the American Sunday-School 
Union, and Sunday-school work in foreign lands as pro- 
moted by the World's Sunday-School Association. Union 
schools will naturally give to union objects, choosing 
such as will appeal to young people's interest. These 
might include, in addition to those just mentioned, such 
evangelical undenominational movements as the China 
Inland Mission, the Mission to Lepers, the Salvation 
Army, etc. 

The scriptural method of giving is well summed up 
in 1 Corinthians 16:2, "Upon the first day of the week 
let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath 
prospered him." One's giving should then be 
Individual — "Every one of you." 
Systematic — "Upon the first day of the week." 
Proportionate — "As God hath prospered him." 

The application of this "rule of three," adapted in its 
methods of operation to pupils of different grades, will 
develop for the Church a new army of regular, generous, 
proportionate givers. 

Boys and girls may well be encouraged to earn their 
own money for their missionary giving. This will make it 
more valuable — to themselves at least. 

All contact with the missionary movement, by study, 
by prayer, by any sacrifice made to promote it, should 
develop in every Sunday-school pupil more of the heroic 
spirit of him whose Kingdom we seek to establish through- 
out the whole world, for which he gave not only service 
but life. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why and how should every Sunday-school avoid 
living to itself alone? 

2. What part has your school taken in general Sunday- 
school movements in your section? 



THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE KINGDOM 195 

3. What missionary instruction would you recommend 
for a class of Junior boys and girls? for a class of young 
women? 

4. Prepare a program for fifteen minutes of missionary 
instruction from the platform in a school where very little 
attention has been given to missions. 

5. What is a scriptural "rule of three" for giving? 

6. What is the right order to follow in developing mis- 
sionary activity in any Sunday-school? 



REVIEW OF PART IV 

LESSON I 

1. How can the efficient Sunday-school give helpful 
direction to the social life of its community? 

2. What can it do to encourage clean athletics under 
wholesome conditions? 

3. What other outdoor activities may a Sunday-school 
engage in? 

LESSON II 

4. How may the Sunday-school increase temperance 
sentiment? 

5. What may it safely do in the difficult task of pro- 
moting purity of thought, speech, and act? 

6. How can it aid in producing patriotic Christian 
citizenship? 

LESSON III 

7. How does the Sunday-school often prepare the way 
for church organization? 

8. How should it build up church attendance and 
membership? 

9. How should Decision Day be prepared for, conducted, 
and followed up? 

LESSON IV 

10. How should a Sunday-school share in promoting 
general Sunday-school work? 

1 1 . What should it do to train its members in missionary 
interest and support? 



BOOKS FOR USE WITH THIS COURSE OF 
STUDY 

In preparing this list, the object has been to select the 
most practical volumes at the most moderate price. In 
order that every school may have at least a few of the 
most helpful books for use by members of the training 
class, those regarded as most important have been grouped 
into two sets, on which special offers are made. 

SET 1 

Manual of Sunday-School Methods Foster $.75 net 

How to Run a Little Sunday-School Fergusson . 60 " 

The Teacher That Teaches . . Wells .50" 

Talks with the Training Class . . Slattery . 50 " 

Child Nature and Child Nurture . St. John .50" 

The five volumes in Set 1, if ordered at one time, to be 
sent to one address, will be shipped, charges prepaid, 
to any place in the United States on receipt of $2.50. 

SET 2 

Manual of Sunday-School Methods Foster $.75 net 
How to Run a Little Sunday-School Fergusson . 60 " 
Practical Pedagogy in the Sunday- 
School McKinney .50 " 

Teacher Trainiog with the Master 

Teacher Beardslee .50 " 

Our Boy Bartow .75 " 

Practical Primary Plans . . . Black 1 . 00 " 
All about the Junior .... Sudlow . 50 " 
Teens and the Rural Sunday-School Alexander .50 " 
The Adult Bible Class— Its Organi- 
zation and Work Pearce .25 " 

Stories and Story-Telling . . . St. John .50 " 

The ten volumes in Set 2, if ordered at one time, to 
be sent to one address, will be shipped, charges prepaid, 
to any place in the United States on receipt of $5.00. 



i98 BOOKS FOR USE WITH THIS COURSE 

I. ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING 

Learning to Teach from the Master 

Teacher Marquis $ . 35 net 

Elements of Religious Pedagogy . Pattee .75 " 

The Making of a Teacher . . . Brumbaugh 1 . 00 " 

The Art of Questioning . . . Fitch . 15 " 

Living Teachers Slattery .35 " 

Devotional Life of the Sunday- 
School Teacher Miller .50 " 

II. ON ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE PUPILS 

The Unfolding Life Lamoreaux $ . 50 net 

The Child as God's Child . . . Rishell .75" 

The Natural Way in Moral Training Du Bois 1 . 25 " 

Fundamentals of Child Study . . Kirkpatrick 1 . 25 " 
The Blackboard Class for Primary 

Sunday-School Teachers . . . Darnell .25 " 

The Secondary Division of the 

Sunday-School Alexander .50 " 

Church Work with Boys . . . Forbush . 50 " 

101 Things for Adult Classes to Do Moninger .50 postpaid 

How to Build Up an Adult Class Moninger . 25 postpaid 

III. ON A WELL-ORGANIZED SCHOOL 

The Church School Athearn 

How to Conduct a Sunday-School Lawrance 
Modern Methods in Sunday-School 

Work Mead 

The Superintendent and His Work Brown 

Sunday-School Officer's Manual . Brown 

Special Days in the Sunday-School Lawrance 

Housing the Sunday-School . . Lawrance 

IV. ON USING THE SCHOOL TO ADVANCE THE 
KINGDOM OF GOD 

The Sunday-School at Work . . 

The Social Creed of the Churches 

A Social Survey of Rural Com- 
munities 

Graded Social Service for the 
Sunday-School 

Social Activities for Men and Boys 



$1 


.00 net 


1 


.25 


u 




.50 


11 




.50 


({ 




.50 


It 


1 


.25 


it 


2 


.00 


u 



Faris 


$1.25 net 


Ward 


.50 " 


Wells 


.10 " 


Hutchins 


.75 " 


Chesley 


1.00 " 



BOOKS FOR USE WITH THIS COURSE 



199 



Social Evenings Wells $0 . 35 net 

The Sunday-School and Temperance Stevens . 50 " 

The Parent's Guide to Sex Problems Kendall .50 " 

The Nobility of Boyhood . . . Willson . 50 " 

The Girl in Her Teens .... Slattery . 50 " 

Confidential Chats with Girls . . Howard 1 . 00 " 

From Youth to Manhood . . . Hall .50 " 

Winning the Boy Merrill . 75 " 

The Girl and Her Religion . . . Slattery 1 . 00 " 

How to Bring Men to Christ . . Torrey .25 " 
The Why and How of Missions in 

the Sunday-School . . . . Brown . 50 " 
Missionary Methods for Sunday- 
School Workers ..... Trull .50 " 
The Sunday-School Teacher and the 

Program of Jesus .... Trull and Stowell . 50 " 



Any volume, either in the two sets or in the rest of this 
list, will be sent postpaid to any address in the United 
States on receipt of the price named, and 10 per cent, 
additional of that price to cover postage. Address 
American Sunday-School Union, 1816 Chestnut St., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 



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